"It is now clear that we are at
one of those epoch changing moments in
British political history. Just as the 'Winter of Discontent'
in 1978/79 marked
a paradigm shift, an utter and complete reversal of the
pre-existing order and
the arrival of something new, something revolutionary and
something
transformative – so the present unprecedented debt crisis of
2008/2009 is
doing the same.
1979 brought an end to the welfare state, 2009 will see an
end to the market
state and the next election will, with the election of the
Conservative party,
usher in the birth of the civic state.
We know what was wrong and what was right with the welfare
state, it is
right to provide a floor through which people cannot fall, it
is right to have a
safety net which catches and supports people who for reasons
of health,
wealth or market fluctuation cannot sustain themselves in the
interim. Finally
it is right to secure the general well being of all through a
universal account
of the common good and the necessity of full participation in
it.
However we also know that welfare is a far more effective
ceiling than it is an
adequate floor – it traps as many as it helps and condemns
therefore a
whole class to permanent poverty and dependence. Furthermore
welfare dis-
empowers its recipients – the philosophy of entitlement
destroys
consciousness of mutuality and it fragments working class
culture and
permanently disables the associative drive that alone can
make communities
and foster the development of wealth and independence.
Finally welfarism
was the Faustian bargain that the left struck with monopoly
capitalism, it
ensures a kind of permanent ascendancy of the middle over the
working
class and creates an antagonistic feudal structure – where
any genuine
extension of power and ownership to the poor is resisted by
the liberal
middle classes who fear mostly for their own status and their
sole assumed
inherited right to social mobility. (Just look at British
schooling).
Similarly we know what is right and what is wrong with the
market state.
Clearly the market is a more effective and efficient
mechanism for the
distribution of many resources than the state. Evidently if
one can enter the
market place and if one has something to trade – the market
creates wealth,
and prosperity. Finally there is the manifest good of liberty
and unless this
has an economic reality, one would exist under the permanent
subjugation
of the state, or the private cartel.
Yet we also know what is wrong with the market state – too
often it replaces
a public monopoly with a private cartel. In the name of
breaking up the state
too little attempt was applied to breaking up the market.
Under the
dispensation of the market state, private replaced public
monopoly and
market entry was effectively and progressively denied to
newcomers. The
majority of Britons having being denied entry to the market
lost any access
to investment capital. Thus the ability to transform one's
life or situation
steadily declined as wealth flowed upwards rather than
downwards and a
new oligarchical class, asset rich and leverage keen, assumed
market
freedom was synonymous with their complete ascendancy. Market
fundamentalism abandoned the fundamentals of markets. Prudent
chancellors promised no more boom and bust, the state
sanctioned
monopoly capitalism and sat happy on the tax receipts of
unrestrained
global gambling. As Labour stoked the engine of inequality
it abandoned
the rest of the economy for the receipts of city speculation
and the re-
distributive power of welfarism. Thus the market and the
welfare state
merged into one as they both colluded in a system whose
bankruptcy is now
ongoing and self-evident.
Mark Latham:
Mutualism: A Third Way for Australia
"Mutualism
is the number one
issue in Australian
politics. While this may not be clear to the party
professionals and spin doctors, it is the common thread
running through public concerns as diverse as
globalisation, regional development, community decline
and law and order.
It is the one universal issue on the public
agenda. This is because it
concerns the relationship between people. Not the
relationship between
economic players in the market. Not the relationship between
government
and its citizens. But the relationship between people: acts
of trust and
cooperation; the reciprocated bonds of a mutual society....
Public policy needs to build a virtuous circle
in public life - striking the right
balance between the market economy, the role of the state and
the strength
of civil society. If the emphasis tips too far in one
direction, governance
starts to break down.
For some time this balance has been moving
against society. While
throughout the 20th century, market forces have
thrived and the size of
government has grown substantially, networks of community and
the trust
between people have been lost. It is not difficult to
understand why. As
markets and governments have become more prominent, they have
taken
over many of the things people used to do for themselves.
In particular, we have lost a lot of public
morality and trust. These are the
informal rules of society, the obligations people work out
between
themselves, without interference from governments and
economics. Morality,
trust and obligation: these are the things that tell us what
sort of society we
have become.
Both markets and governments have a habit of
treating people as rule
followers, rather than rule makers. If this influence becomes
too strong,
people can lose the habit of working out rules and
obligations between
themselves. This is when morality and mutualism start to
break down.
Society begins to turn on itself.
Few things seem to happen anymore without a
government law or market
transaction to guide them. This is how record levels of GDP
in Australia
now sit alongside record levels of crime, social stress and
family
breakdown. The political balance needs to swing back towards
civil society.
This task, in fact, requires a new type of
politics. The Left and Right have
been as bad as each other. The Left has allowed its distrust
of markets and
endless faith in government to obscure the importance of
civil society. The
Right has been so focused on replacing the state with markets
that it has
forgotten how to cultivate a trusting society.
This is the politics of the absurd. The Left
identifies with the good society but
rarely talks about the mutualism and trust between people.
The Right
recognises the importance of moral obligation but gives the
impression of
trusting market transactions more than civil society.
Click here to read the full text
of this article.
After the Global Financial Crisis: National Summit
Phillip Blond from the UK will be the key speaker at
a National Summit later
this year on policy directions
After the Global Financial Crisis.
Its focus
will be on integrating economic and social reform in a
communitarian/mutualist framework.
Stay tuned for further
details.
Individuals and organisations interesting in
participating in the organisation of this event should
contact Vern
Hughes.
Street by Street: Community building, one street at a time...
In every street and neighbourhood, there is an
isolated elderly person, and a person living
with a disability, and a new settler wanting to
communicate and develop connections with
locals.
And in every
street and neighbourhood, there are people wanting to make
connections with others and offer support in simple and
practical ways.
We think we can
put these pieces together, street by street.
UnitingCare Wesley in Adelaide has developed a neighbourhood
support
program called
In Your Street. It 'aims to foster the development of caring
communities by linking up people who live in the same street
or nearby. The
focus is on practical helping tasks which can relieve
isolation and make the
difference between someone remaining in their own home or
needing to move
into more supportive accommodation', such as:
-
Taking the bin in
and out
-
Hanging washing
-
Getting a few items
from the shops
-
Getting mail from
the letter box
-
Calling in for a
chat
-
Practising language
skills
The Centre
is developing a national project called
Street by Street
which will
replicate this model in towns and suburbs around the country.
It will be
workshopped and developed at the
Natural Neighbourhoods. Real
Communities Conference in Melbourne on June
22/23.
Many organisations are working on developing social connections
– either for
the aged, or people with disabilities, or families and
children, or newly arrived
settlers. In many cases these connections are essential for
living
independently in the community. However, many organisations
often find it
difficult to develop local and ‘natural’ connections. Most
agencies don’t have
enough volunteers to develop a local support network that is
street or
neighbourhood-based, where informal social contact and
interactions can
happen easily and develop naturally.
Our
Street by Street Project
aims to turn this around. We would like to here
from organisations around the country interested in
partnering with us.
Click here to express your interest.
Natural
Neighbourhoods, Real Communities: National
Conference
22-23 June Melbourne
This
event is a national networking and development
conference for people
interested in building and strengthening
natural neighbourhoods through
initiatives such as:
-
Circles
of Support
-
Informal and
social volunteering
-
Daily living
supports for older neighbours
-
Buddy,
companionship and visitor schemes
-
Street parties
-
Homework clubs
-
Gardening clubs
-
Cross-generational interactions and
mentoring
-
Schools and
neighbourhoods
-
Family day care
and baby-sitting clubs
-
Car pooling and
community transport
-
Welcome for new
arrivals
-
Neighbourhood-based cultural exchange
-
Neighbourhood-based language learning and
teaching
-
Community safety
initiatives
-
Community choirs
and music
-
Micro-boards
-
Self-help groups
in fitness and health maintenance
-
Neighbourhood
initiatives in recreation, sport and the
arts
-
Neighbourhood
initiatives in recreation, sport and the
arts
We are interested in
identifying and showcasing initiatives around
the
country that are strengthening social relationships and
building natural
neighbourhoods and real communities.
We also aim to
develop several initiatives for
national coordination
and
implementation in communities around the country.
Click
here for more information or to
express an interest in presenting a
paper, workshop, topic for discussion or
idea for networking.
Click
here to register.
Siegfried Drews: A Portal for Self-Directed Services and
Personal
Budgets
Siegfried Drews is a retired
Melbourne industrial
insurance executive, and husband and carer to Mardi,
who has Motor Neurone Disease.
Over the past three
years, Siegfried has developed a technology platform to
support the planning, logistics, administration and
reporting functions
associated with supporting his wife's
care.
The result is a portal through which Mardi's carers can be
employed,
rostered and paid electronically, other supports and services
can be
budgeted, purchased and accounted for, and her public funders
can view the
flow of people and money as they wish. The portal integrates
planning,
budgeting, financial transactions, reporting, and local
networking (if required)
in a format applicable to children and adults in disability,
chronic illness,
mental health, aged care and education.
The
fantastic thing about this venture is that Siegfried has no interest in
commercialisation. There will be no licencing or contracts.
It will be free with
the exception of a set-up fee and a fee for customisation (if
required). Its
purpose is to enable self-management and to leverage
integrated person-
centred arrangements for consumers and families on a very
large scale.
The
portal is currently being trialled in two settings. Expressions of interest
are invited from organisations wishing to partner in the
technical refinement
of the portal and its adaption for multiple uses throughout
the human
services.
CLICK HERE
to express your organisation's interest.
Self-Directed Services: Brisbane Seminar
17 June
Self-Directed Support and Personalised Budgets in Qld
Wednesday 17 June 2009 9.30am - 4.30pm
Queen Alexandra House, 347 Old Cleveland Rd Coorparoo
For further information contact Kym McCallum 07 3211 5700
or email
kymmccallum@cru.org.au
George Vassiliou: Family-management of aged care
packages
George Vassiliou is a pioneer in family-
management of disability supports for his
daughter Natasha. George is also a pioneer in
applying
the same methodology to the
management of supports for his mother Lily.
Following a profile of his family-managed
arrangements on
The 7.30 Report on ABC
Television last year, George has, with approval
from
the Federal Minister for Aged Care,
established an important precedent -
families are
entitled to self-manage Home and Community Care
funding packages for
their family members if they choose to.
Expressions of interest are invited from families wanting to self-manage their
aged care package. We will connect up families in this
category, supply
information and support on how to proceed, and direct
families to appropriate
host agencies willing to host family-managed arrangements.
CLICK HERE
to register your
interest.
Expressions of interest are also invited from aged
care agencies around the
country willing to host family-managed arrangements.
CLICK HERE
to register your organisation's interest.
Parents, Families, Carers: Second National Conference,
Brisbane
The Second Conference of the National Federation
of
Parents, Families and Carers will be held in
Brisbane
on 3-4 August 2009.
This year's theme is
A Political Voice for Families.
It will explore options
for developing a stronger political voice for families. The
paradox we face is
that families are the biggest social constituency in the country, but have
the
weakest organisation and the weakest political voice.
Why? And how do we change this so that families trump
trade unions,
farmers and big business and become the strongest political
voice in the
land?
Click here
to express an interest in presenting a paper,
workshop, action
proposal or topic for discussion.
Last year's inaugural conference was the
first occasion
on which parents, families and carers from around
Australia came
together across
disability,mental health,
ageing, child care, early
childhood intervention, family
support, education and health care
sectors.
Click here
to read about last year's conference and the
National Federation of Parents, Families and Carers.
Photo: Jenny
Shale, President, National Federation of Parents,
Families andCarers
Liberal Party SA: Individualised Funding Policy
The
Liberal Party in South Australia has produced a policy document which
commits the party firmly to the self-direction and personal
budgets agenda.
“Individualised Funding in Disability Services -
empowering people with
disability to create better lives”, was released in early
April. Shadow
Disability Services Minister Stephen Wade says
"Labor’s
‘one size fits all’
approach was leaving people with a disability “disengaged,
disempowered
and disappointed.’’"
CLICK HERE to
read the policy.
Consumer-Controlled
Electronic Health Record
The National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission
(NHHRC)
has recommended the introduction of person-
controlled electronic
health records for every Australian.
The Chair of the Commission is Dr Christine Bennett,
Chief Medical Officer of BUPA Australia Ltd,
operating as
MBF, HBA and Mutual Community
(pictured).
The Commission released the recommendations at the
end of April in a supplementary paper to its Interim Report,
which was
released in February. Stung by
widespread criticism that its Interim Report
avoided the difficult systemic
challenges in health reform, the Commission
has bounced back with surprisingly
firm recommendations which include a
detailed timeline for the
introduction of person-controlled electronic health
records.
The two
key recommendations are:
"1. We
propose that, by 2012:
-
Every Australian should be able to have a personal electronic health record
that will at all times be owned and controlled by that person;
-
Every Australian should be able to approve designated health care providers
to have authorised access to their personal electronic health record; and
-
Every Australian should be able to choose where and how their personal
electronic health record will be stored, backed-up and retrieved.
7. We propose that the Commonwealth Government mandate that the
payment of public and private
benefits for all health and aged care
services be dependent upon the
provision of data to patients, their
authorised carers, and their
authorised health providers, in a format that
can be integrated in a personal
electronic health record, such that:
-
hospitals must provide key data, such as referral and discharge information,
by 1 July 2012;
-
pathology providers and diagnostic imaging providers must provide key data,
such as reports of investigations and supplementary information, by 1 July
2012;
-
other health service providers - including general practitioners, medical
and non-medical specialists, pharmacists and other health and aged care
providers - must transmit key data, including referral and discharge
information, prescribed and dispensed medications, and synopses of diagnosis
and treatment, by 1 January 2013; and
-
all health care providers must be able to accept data from other health care
providers by 2013."
Regrettably the Rudd Government's $42b 'stimulus' package did not include
an investment of the $2b estimated by Microsoft Australia
as being the price
tag for the introduction of a national electronic health
record.
By contrast, the Obama
'stimulus' package included $US20b for this
purpose over the next five years.
Electronic health information
will be created
"for each person in the United States by 2014," under the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
(ARRA, or the 'Stimulus').
The Commission is due to hand
down its final report in June.
The NHHRC supplementary paper, Person-controlled Electronic Health
Records, is available
here.
Health Reform Governance:
Option C please
The
Interim Report of the NHRHC put forward
three options for reform of
health care governance:
A. Continuation of shared responsibility for health
between the
Commonwealth and states, but with a clearer alignment of
functions
between them;
B. The Commonwealth to be solely responsible for all
aspects of health care,
delivering through regional health authorities; and
C. The Commonwealth to be solely responsible for all
aspects of health
care, establishing compulsory social insurance to fund local
delivery. All
responsibility for funding, policy and regulation would be
transferred to the
Commonwealth, with the Commonwealth establishing a tax-funded
community insurance scheme under which there would be
multiple,
competing health plans for people to choose from, which would
be required
to cover a mandatory set of services including hospital,
medical,
pharmaceutical, allied health and aged care.
The Centre for Civil Society
is of the firm opinion that only Option C
offers
a framework for the
development of
consumer-centred health care.
Options
A and B are
bureaucracy-centred
frameworks.
The model of regional
health organisations in Option B would 'capture'
consumers by locality without the accountability that comes from
consumers
having the power to exit one organisation and take our money
and
purchasing leverage somewhere else. This model is akin to local
government
delivery of health care - local governments may be local in
proximity but they
are not renowned for their responsiveness to local needs.
The Commission should be explicit in seeking to enable aggregates of health
consumers, based on cultural or philosophical or religious
preferences, to
form their own health plans within the framework set out in
Option C.
This
would
mean, for instance, an indigenous
communities-based health plan,
a Catholic-based
health plan, a New Age complementary medicine
and
natural therapy-based health plan, a sports health plan,
and so on, to provide genuine consumer-based
competition with genuinely different
‘products’ to choose from.
The Commission should make it clear to the public that Option C is not
about forcing them to choose from only the existing private
health insurers,
who are remarkably uncreative and non-entrepreneurial
organisations,
offering identical products at identical prices.
Permitting consumers to form their own preference-
based
health plan
is an essential part of the process of
enabling Australians to
‘own’ major change in the
health system, understanding it as a ‘return’ of health
care to ‘our’ communities - indigenous, religious,
cultural - and away from
control by bureaucrats and
providers.
Consumers have become used to thinking about health care in a way that is
totally divorced from other components of their pursuit of
well-being. In 19th
century Australia, consumers did actually form competing
health plans
based on their cultural preferences. They were called
friendly societies.
Click here
to tell us what you think.
AGM Season 2009: Carers Victoria - how not to run an
association
Our
AGM Season Project
was initiated last year to explore one important
but often overlooked aspect of the empowerment agenda -
turning around the
impact of managerialism on our not-for-profits. There's a
great deal to be
done.
Take Carers
Victoria, for example.
Last
month a group of members of Carers Victoria lodged a requisition, in
accordance with the rules of the incorporated association,
for a Special
General Meeting to be convened to change the rules so that
carers who are
actually engaged in caring for a loved one are a majority on
the board, rather
than researchers, consultants and professionals in the
field.
The board, most of whom are researchers,
consultants and professionals in
the field, promptly rejected the requisition, in breach of
the association’s
rules and the Associations Incorporation Act Victoria
1985.
The Act contains a provision for such a
situation. The members making the
requisition have 90 days (from April 21) in which to convene
a Special
General Meeting themselves, at a time and place of their
choosing.
On advising the board and management of
Carers Victoria that they intend to
do this, the board declined to make available the Register of
Members so
that members could be notified.
Anticipating that the board and management will
go to great lengths to
mislead members about this process, the requisitioners are
now seeking a
Court Order to require the board and management to comply
with the Act
and accept the validity of a member requisition made in
accordance with its
rules. In short, it will require them to abide by the
law.
Managerialism is a culture in which the
managerial prerogative, that is, the
assumption of an exclusive right to manage an organisation in
the image of
the management, overrides and destroys all other
counter-veiling cultures
and obligations.
Clearly, the board and management of Carers
Victoria cannot grasp the
concept of a member-based and member-driven association. This
is not
unusual throughout the not-for-profit scene. Membership is
now seen as a
way to support an organisation, principally through
fundraising and
donations. It is no longer seen as the core of governance,
ownership and
accountability.
Indeed, Carers Victoria refers to its
carer members as ‘stakeholders’
alongside governments, corporates, service providers and
suppliers. This is a
fundamental misunderstanding and betrayal of what a
membership-based
association actually is. It is why the board and management
of Carers
Victoria think they have a duty to ignore a member
requisition – it conflicts
with their managerial prerogative.
Today, most of our large not-for-profits have been captured
by their
managements. From credit unions to church agencies,
disability services to
housing associations, family support services to youth
groups, the story is
the same. In the name of risk management, economies of scale,
and
appeasement of public funders, many not-for-profits have been
transformed
into mini-corporates driven by managerial prerogatives.
It is not too late to change this
culture. To a large extent, our
boards and committees over the
last 30 years have lacked the
confidence to challenge the
managerial take-over. Many have
acquiesced against their own
instincts, lacking support, mentors and external advice in
challenging the
managerial culture. On your own it's very hard. But together, all
things are
possible.
If you've been considering putting yourself forward for
election to a board or
committee in your not-for-profit this year, we want to hear from you.
Complete this
AGM Expression of Interest Form
to tell us your views on
organisations you believe need a leadership challenge.
Tell us too if you
want to put yourself forward for nomination when AGM Season
comes
around this Spring, or if you want
to support others who are nominating.
Click
here for more information.
Respect. Empower.
Include: Organising by Federal Electorate
Participants will
gather in each of our 150
federal electorates and work together, online
and in groups, to secure their
federal MP's
support for our agenda of respect,
empowerment, and inclusion.
CLICK HERE to register in your
electorate (there is no cost).
On registering, participants will be connected to an
online forum in their
electorate, and will receive access to resources and
guidelines for local
activity.
CLICK HERE for more information.
Phillip Blond is a leading 'communitarian conservative'
in
August 3/4 2009:
A Political Voice for Families.
