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Andy Blunden on undermining welfare.

Article Excerpt
Peter Saunders, Australia's Welfare Habit and How to Kick It Duffy & Snellgrove, 2004

Thank goodness that at a time when academics still think that they can insulate themselves from the demands of the market there is an institution that can provide whatever opinion you are willing to pay for--with scientific arguments to back it up.

Such an institution is the Centre for Independent Studies. Thanks to the generous stipend provided by his benefactors, a soldier of fortune like Peter Saunders can offer fearless advice on Australia's 'welfare habit'.

While gutless politicians buckle under the pressure of public opinion and are too cowardly to challenge the boundaries of ethical public debate, Saunders is prepared to use facts both boldly and creatively. Which is another way of saying that Australia's Welfare Habit and How to Kick It, is more a handbook for the populist head-kicker than a serious scientific study.

The interests of the poor are represented as the ideology and opinions of those who deal with and speak for them, variously called the 'public policy establishment', 'academics', the 'welfare lobby' and so on. The interests of capital are represented as the 'deeply held values of the Australian public'--determined by opinion pollsters. Politicians, meanwhile, are 'weak-kneed' and 'gutless', cowed by fear of the voters and the power of the 'welfare lobby'--all the...

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