Australian Social Security System

Abstract

◈ 호주 사회복지 발달의 역사적(사회경제적) 배경 연구 ◈ 호주 사회복지의 체계와 구성 분석 ◈ 호주 주요 사회복지제도의 내용 ◈ 한국에의 시사점

This study aims to explore the Australian social security system, which is comparatively lesser known to social policy scholars in Korea, and its social, economical, and historical contexts. It is hoped that analysing the characteristics and the effects of the Australian social security system suggests policy implications to Korean social security system. Investigation of both the characteristics of the current Australian welfare state and the course of its development summarises the features of the Australian social security system as the followings: protective labour market, income security structured by the comprehensive public assistance, targeted welfare provision, privatised provision of medical services, progressive taxation, and welfare federalism. The review of the Australian social security system revealed that it has strength in terms of equitable and effective income distribution that is achieved through financial efficiency. In particular, its income transfer system provides people with the lowest level of income with the most benefits. However, the followings are the major challenges that the current Australian welfare state faces: the weakening of a ‘working man’s welfare state’ facilitated by the growing international competition and a subsequent increase in the international labour force mobility, difficulty in mobilising labour power associated with the declining homogeneity of the labour force, rapid population ageing, and the expansion of social insurance elements and the privatisation in the provision of social security.