Income Security Programmes and the Philosophy of Social Security Policy

Abstract

Social security programmes may be divided into two broad groups of programmes, those concerned with income security and those concerned with opportunity security. Income security programmes may be further divided into positive transfer programmes, where there is a cash flow from the government to the individual, and negative transfer programmes, which are a component of the taxation system. Positive transfer programmes may be universal or limited, the main limitation being benefits subject to a means test. Positive transfer programmes may also be classified as to whether they are income based measures, distinguishing between income replacement and income supplement programmes; or whether they are expenditure based, whereby the beneficiary receives either full or partial compensation for expenditure he has made or is assumed to have made.The philosophy lying behind income security programmes may be related to the principle of either individual need or social right. The former principle tends to be associated with programmes which are limited in nature while universal programmes tend to be based on the principle of social right. In the past most of the income security programmes in Australia have been based on the principle of individual need, but since 1972 there has been a marked shift to programmes based on social right, particularly the policy of abolishing the means test on aged pensions and the introduction of Medibank. Social right policies, in general, tend to be more costly and alleviate less need per dollar of outlay than individual need programmes.Apart from the move towards social right programmes, there has been an increasing lack of coordination between existing and proposed programmes. Although an inter‐departmental committee has been established to investigate this problem, it is unlikely that any real change will eventuate from that source in the near future. What is required in Australia today is not further studies of poverty or the prescription of new programmes, but an explicit statement of social welfare philosophy on which programmes are to be based, and the establishment of an organisation whose primary and perhaps sole task is to co‐ordinate social security programmes.