Markets, rights and power in Australian social policy / edited by Gabrielle Meagher and Susan Goodwin.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Markets, Rights and Power in Australian Social Policy -- The politics of market encroachment: Policymaker rationales and voter responses -- The marketisation of human services and the expansion of the not-for-profit sector -- ‘Which bank?’ Competition and community service obligations in the retail banking sector -- Community aged care providers in a competitive environment: Past, present and future -- Home security: Marketisation and the changing face of housing assistance in Australia -- Money and markets in Australia’s healthcare system -- Marketisation of immigrant skills assessment in Australia -- Markets in education: ‘School choice’ and family capital -- Conditional income transfers and choice in social services: Just more conditions and more markets?

The provision of social services in Australia has changed dramatically in recent decades. Governments have expanded social provision without expanding the public sector by directly subsidising private provision, by contracting private agencies, both non-profit and for-profit, to deliver services, and through a number of other subsidies and vouchers. Private actors receive public funds to deliver social services to citizens, raising a range of important questions about financial and democratic accountability: 'who benefits', 'who suffers' and 'who decides'. This book explores these developments through rich case studies of a diverse set of social policy domains. The case studies demonstrate a range of effects of marketisation, including the impact on the experience of consumer engagement with social service systems, on the distribution of social advantage and disadvantage, and on the democratic steering of social policy.