Overview | achievements and policy directions

Strategies for a fair and cohesive society

A commitment to a fair and cohesive Australian society drives our policy direction. Knowing that what we do has a powerful effect on many Australian lives, we seek to achieve three outcomes through our policies and outputs—stronger families, stronger communities, and economic and social participation.

The key strategies we adopt to achieve these goals are:

prevention through capacity building and early intervention to reduce the incidence of economic marginalisation caused by financial and personal crises
promoting independence, choice and self-reliance by fostering appropriate understanding, expectations and behaviours in the community
maintaining a strong and sustainable social safety net, encompassing income support, accommodation and support services.

We reviewed our strategies during the year and developed a new Strategic Statement and Priorities Plan was released in September 2002. The main thrust will not change, but we will be putting greater emphasis on fostering self-reliance in the community.

What we spend and where

Total expenses in 2001–02 were $56.4 billion, around 8 per cent of Australia's gross domestic product.

The expenses are closely linked to the demographic profile of our clients.

Payments to families made up 19.3 per cent of total portfolio appropriations.
Payments to people of workforce age (Newstart Allowance, Parenting Payment and Disability Support Pension) made up 29.6 per cent of appropriations.
The Age Pension share of appropriations was 28.6 per cent.

Figure 1 Total FaCS appropriations across life stages 2001–02 (Text description)

Figure 1 Total FaCS appropriations across life stages 2001-02

Figure 1 shows the proportion of the Australian population who rely on income support (by age group).

Around 2.8 million 15–64 year olds received income support—20 per cent of all working-age Australians.

At all workforce ages, the proportion of the male population receiving income support never falls below 14 per cent. For females, it never falls below 18 per cent. This rises to 28 per cent of the total population on income support between the ages of 55 and 59. More than half of people going onto Age Pension are coming off a workforce-age payment.

Figure 2 Income support recipients as a percentage of male and female populations by age and sex, June 2001 (Text description)

Figure 2 Income support recipients as a percentage of male and female populations by age and sex, June 2001

Policies to reduce welfare dependence

Despite more than a decade of economic growth, welfare dependence is increasing among Australia's working-age people. It is greatest among those aged 50 and over and among lone-parent families.

Economic and demographic trends that have driven this level of dependency include population ageing, continued high rates of marriage breakdown and structural change in the labour market. These trends will continue with long-term impacts on social expenditures and Disability Support Pension (DSP) in particular. At the moment, there are more people on DSP than there are on unemployment-related benefits. New evidence has emerged on the long periods that many parents are spending on income support during their working life.

The low level of economic participation of older Australians shown in Figure 2 has negative impacts on individuals, government and the economy now and into the future:

For individuals, non-participation reduces their standard of living now and reduces the capacity to save and provide for their retirement in the future.
For government, taxation receipts are reduced and social security payments are increased over the remainder of the individual's life.
The economy is operating below full capacity.

Keeping older people in paid work helps alleviate budget pressures as the population ages and provides for higher standards of health and living in retirement. The adequacy of retirement incomes for many Australians will rise with improving workforce participation.

But the demographic changes and burgeoning costs associated with an ageing population call for policy responses that focus more broadly than on the older population alone.

Self-reliance during working-age years benefits individuals and our society. Sustained periods of high welfare dependence carry high social costs, including inter-generational effects. FaCS is committed to developing a social support system that helps people to be self reliant and strong members of the community.

Key areas of our work

Welfare reform

Welfare reform is a major social policy priority of the Government. The main focus during 2001–02 was on moving a number of Australians Working Together (AWT) measures towards implementation. During 2001–02:

Consultative forums in 43 locations during July and August 2001 looked at ways of making sure the AWT package could be delivered to maximum effect across Australia's diverse regions, and how it could be enhanced to provide better support for working-age people in the future. We talked with a range of people from the community and welfare sectors, business, local government and others. A report was released on 14 May 2002—Australians Working Together—Helping people move forward—Listening to the community: Report on the outcomes of the community consultations on Australians Working Together.

Centrelink recruited 456 Personal Advisers to provide extra help for income support recipients to get a job or participate as fully as possible in the community. Centrelink worked to reengineer its service delivery procedures to better support the participation focus of welfare reform.

The Personal Support Programme (PSP) was developed after extensive consultations with community organisations and service providers. PSP replaced the Community Support Programme in July 2002. Centrelink will refer people with significant non-vocational employment barriers to the program. They will get direct help or be linked with other government or community organisations that provide the sorts of help they need. A network of 144 community and private organisations, selected through competitive tender, will provide specialist support services from more than 600 sites nationwide.

We developed a participation pack to help parents assess the financial advantages of returning to employment or study to make them more competitive in the labour market. A considerable effort went into putting AWT measures into practice in the disability field, covering new work capacity assessment and new disability employment places. And Indigenous communities will have better access to Centrelink services from September 2002. For example local Indigenous people will staff three remote area service centres in Napranum, Laverton and Halls Creek.

Disabilities

The incidence of disability in Australia is significant and increasing. About 17 per cent of Australians of workforce age and 54 per cent of those aged 65 years and over have a disability.

Employment support services for people with disabilities are provided through the framework of the Commonwealth, State and Territory Disability Agreement. The Disability Employment Assistance Program helps jobseekers with disabilities find work by providing a range of services. Australians Working Together has increased the focus on the work capacity of people with disabilities and on identifying early interventions to help them maximise their economic and social participation.

FaCS works with other Commonwealth agencies to implement the Commonwealth Disability Strategy and helps communities get involved in developing policy advice through advisory bodies such as the National Disability Advisory Council.

We provide income support for people with a physical, intellectual or psychiatric impairment—and their carers—through a range of payments, including Newstart Allowance, Disability Support Pension, Carer Payment and Carer Allowance. The number of Australians receiving the Disability Support Pension continues to grow. This growth is of policy concern, and recent Budget measures have sought to address the growth. The number of people receiving Carer Payment and Carer Allowance also continues to grow.

Older Australians

Structural ageing is beginning to affect the portfolio's outcomes as the first of the 'baby boomers' turn 55. Structural ageing refers to the increase in the proportion of older people in the population, which reflects the combined impact of an increase in the actual number of older people and falling fertility.

We continued to assess the impact of structural ageing on the rising cost of income support payments, which is driven by the rapid growth in the number of older working-age people leaving the workforce. As part of the 2001–02 Budget, the Government announced its 'Acknowledging Older Australians' package to recognise the contribution of older people in building Australian society.

Families

The rapidly changing structure of families is having an effect on policy development. The forms that families take in Australia may have changed in recent decades, but they continue to play the key role in nurturing children. People are marrying or partnering later, having children later and having fewer children. This has an impact on choices, fertility and, eventually, the size of the workforce.

More than 40 per cent of marriages end in divorce, and there is a higher rate of breakdown for second marriages and de facto relationships. Some 20 per cent of children are raised in households where no adult has paid work. The increased risks of poverty and poorer health, education and employment outcomes for the next generation are clear.

A whole-of-government approach will work best in delivering our family policies. We have taken the lead to build a network of Commonwealth agencies, ministerial advisory councils, non-government organisations, and state and territory government agencies to develop a shared research and policy agenda.

Youth Pathways Taskforce

The Youth Pathways Taskforce's brief was to find ways of helping young people make a successful transition from school to independent life. We were heavily involved in developing some 'joined-up' approaches to the task—where government agencies work cooperatively to the same end.

With Centrelink and the Department of Education, Science and Training and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, we developed the Youth Servicing Strategy. Centrelink is putting the strategy to work to make service delivery to young jobseekers and students nationally consistent.

We were a driving force behind a joint declaration of commitment by the Commonwealth, state and territory governments to working collaboratively to provide education, training, employment and community services for young people. Ministers endorsed the 'Stepping Forward' declaration in July 2002.

OECD's Thematic Review of Early Childhood Education and Care

Work and family policies are our main lever to support family formation, fertility choices and superior early childhood experience. This is why we took part in the OECD's Thematic Review of Early Childhood Education and Care. In response to the review, and in partnership with other departments, governments and external partners, we are working to knit policies on early childhood development and work–family balance with policies on labour force participation and self-reliance, health, education, housing and service delivery. That way, we can provide a more coherent approach to helping families.

Family Law Pathways Advisory Group

We have been working with the Attorney-General's Department to support the work of the Family Law Pathways Advisory Group. The group identified ways to improve outcomes for families who have to deal with the legal and social security system after family breakdown. We are a member of an interdepartmental taskforce considering the 28 recommendations the group made in its report, Out of the Maze, to simplify the family law system. For our part, we have reviewed the special needs of separating parents and are looking to bolster support for families under pressure during early child-rearing years.

Commonwealth–State Working Group on Youth

We established a Commonwealth–State Working Group on Youth to focus services for children and young people at risk. The group has made good progress in two priority areas: redeveloping the Youth Protocol, arrangements for a national approach to help young people without support; and getting the Transition to Independent Living Allowance ready to start in March 2003, so that young people have a better start when they leave state care.

Families portal

We developed a national web site—the families portal at www.families.gov.au—so that families can find government information and services in one place without having to know first which agency to go to. The site links to more than 1000 information sources on the range of Commonwealth sites. It went live in September 2001, and we are continually building content and refining accessibility. More content from state, territory and local government and the community sector is planned, building on the current federal focus.

Youth portal

Our new national youth web site—the youth portal at www.youth.gov.au—makes a huge amount of information available online about Commonwealth Government services, programs, research, policies, events and publications for and about young people aged 12 to 25 years. The portal links to more than 5000 different Commonwealth resources. It went live in July 2001 and was officially launched in April 2002 during National Youth Week. In the Hitwise ranking of all 375 Commonwealth Government web sites visited by Australian Internet users, the youth portal is consistently ranked in the top 150.

Community strengthening

Policies that strengthen communities are responding to the changing dynamics of Australian society. Globalisation, technology and industry restructuring are drivers of—for example—increasing numbers of young people moving from regional, rural and remote areas to larger regional centres or capital cities for jobs and education. Some communities are facing loss of employment opportunities and population decline as a result of industry restructuring, while other areas are growing at a fast rate.

The demographic and socioeconomic profiles of Indigenous communities differ again. As a result of high fertility and high mortality rates, the Indigenous population is younger, with a median age of 20 compared to 35 for the total population.

Research shows that communities with strong leadership, social networks, a volunteering ethos and a strong sense of community spirit are best equipped to deal with the impact of social and economic change.

We base our work to build stronger communities on early intervention and prevention, with a focus on community capacity-building. Recent research in this area includes a meta-analysis of the impact of community-based prevention and early intervention action and the identification and analysis of indicators of community strength.

Volunteers

Strong social partnerships and a strong volunteer sector are keys to community strength and cohesion. Through the International Year of Volunteers FaCS has taken a leading role in activities to highlight and celebrate the important role volunteers make in Australian communities. Special initiatives for the year included:

grants to nearly 2100 community organisations to support and celebrate their volunteers
financial assistance to volunteer organisations to buy equipment
eight grants to peak volunteer organisations to help build community capacity through volunteering
celebration of each monthly International Year of Volunteers theme in a range of locations across Australia.

Community Business Partnership

The Prime Minister's Community Business Partnership aims to encourage and facilitate practical partnerships between business and the communities of which they are a part and to develop and promote a culture of corporate social responsibility in Australia.

The members of the partnership are drawn from both the corporate and community sectors and have wide-ranging experience in the business world and not-for-profit arena.

Initiatives undertaken to achieve aims include developing a triple bottom-line reporting framework for Australia and the Prime Minister's Awards for Excellence in Partnerships.

Stronger Families and Communities Strategy

The Stronger Families and Communities Strategy uses an early intervention and prevention approach to help families and communities take advantage of opportunities and deal with issues before they become serious problems.

Since January 2001 we funded 403 projects under the Strategy worth a total of $56.2 million. In addition the Strategy funds a range of workshops and other activities. Three examples are:

a leadership development project in Tumut, NSW, that targets non-traditional leaders such as young people and Indigenous people
support for a tremendously successful urban renewal project in Bridgewater and Gagebrook, Tasmania, to mentor other communities around the country
employment of a family worker to build parenting skills in Hackham West, South Australia.

A new national web site—the community portal at www.community.gov.au—has given communities and community organisations better online access to a wealth of relevant information. The portal links to more than 1800 sites, spanning all levels of government as well as the spectrum of non-government, academic and community organisations. An average hit-rate of 46 000 a month confirms its value as a resource for communities.

Community portal

Housing

Housing is a basic need, integral to people's lives. Well-located housing, affordable and appropriate to people's requirements, can provide stability for families, and promote independence and good health. Housing is also critical to economic and social participation: it provides a base from which people can pursue employment opportunities and participate more fully in their communities.

For most Australians, an affordable rent or mortgage is critical to how they live. Interest rates at or near historical lows have made housing more affordable. A large proportion (70 per cent) of Australians either own or are buying their own home. For people on income support or receiving more than the base rate of Family Tax Benefit this proportion is significantly lower at 40 per cent. Around 26 per cent of income support recipients are in private rental accommodation (mostly receiving Rent Assistance); about 23 per cent live rent-free and around 8 per cent are in public housing.

We continue to focus on the multiple needs that people requiring housing often face, including homelessness, by delivering emergency housing services and rental assistance as well as exploring other community-focused solutions.

Commonwealth–State Housing Agreement

The Commonwealth–State Housing Agreement grants around $1 billion a year to states and territories to help people find affordable housing when the private sector cannot meet their needs. Last year, around 346 000 households found accommodation and nearly 360 000 houses were made available through public housing.

The Minister for Family and Community Services and state and territory housing ministers are working towards a new agreement to operate from July 2003. Options for community development and renewal of public housing estates, for supporting wider outcomes in health, education and labour market reform, and for stimulating private sector investment in the supply of low-cost housing are being considered as part of the next agreement.

Indigenous housing

Improving Indigenous housing is a major concern for FaCS. We received more money this year to help improve life in rural and remote areas. The extra money is going to the Aboriginal Rental Housing Program (ARHP) administered by FaCS under the Commonwealth–State Housing Agreement. ARHP funding used is for building and buying housing and providing essential health-related housing infrastructure, such as water and sewerage. It is also used to maintain and upgrade housing stock, and to boost Indigenous communities' capacity to manage housing (for example, through training in asset and tenancy management).

Service delivery

To achieve our social policy outcomes, we need to be sure that income support payments and support services are effectively delivered. So we need successful relationships with and between the wide range of service providers who deliver those payments and services. These include Centrelink, the Child Support Agency , CRS Australia, other Commonwealth agencies, other tiers of government and almost 15 000 non-government service delivery outlets. Funding arrangements with these organisations include purchasing contracts, joint ventures, purchaser–provider arrangements, service level agreements, collaborations, grants and subsidies.

Working with Centrelink

A key relationship is the business alliance we have with Centrelink, the major delivery agent for the portfolio. We continue to develop a more business-like relationship and strengthen the alliance.

Consultation

Consultation is important in helping us design appropriate policy and delivery mechanisms. Our involvement in developing the Australians Working Together package showed us just how important it is to consult at the local level with clients, potential clients and community organisations. Community organisations in particular gave us practical advice on how we might make the initiatives work.

Experience

We draw on our practical experience as a policy department responsible for managing a large number of the Government's social policy programs. We have considerable experience with a wide range of delivery models. The appropriate model for a particular set of circumstances—and hence the right relationship between us and the service provider—will vary according to factors such as the services being sought, the client group, the nature of the service provider and whether government has any additional or complementary objectives. The network of state and territory FaCS offices continues to be an essential element of that experience and in building relationships with service deliverers around Australia.