Surviving the Assault? The Australian Disability Movement and the Neoliberal Workfare State

Abstract

This article provides an analysis of the key areas of struggle for the Australian disability movement during the Howard years of government. After providing a brief overview of the Australian disability movement and its historical development, we then move to situate the struggles of the Australian disability movement within the broader context of welfare to work, one of the central tenets of neoliberal social policy restructuring. From here, three sites of struggle emerge that have been central to the Australian disability movement's struggles for representation, recognition and redistribution and principally include state restructuring of disability open labour market supports, state legitimation of disability sheltered workshops and, finally, the pensioner-categorization of disability within social security law and policy.

Keywords:

• Australia
• disability movement
• neoliberal workfare
• policy restructuring
• employment

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Janaka Biyanwila, Ethan Blue, Mike Clear, Shae Garwood, Greg Martin, Lucy Fiske, Sarah Maddison and Helen Meekosha for their comments on earlier drafts of this article and the Fogarty Foundation for funding the documentary research and interviews.

Notes

1. Interview with research participant, September 2005.

2. In the 2003/04 national budget approximately $7 million was allocated to global capital as part of ongoing consultancy fees to build sheltered workshops' market viability (Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee, 2004, p. 170).

3. Telephone interview with Commonwealth Policy Staff, December 2005.