Paper for ASREC Washington 2011

Transcription

1 aper for SREC Washington 2011 Economic and Theological Issues in Contracting-out of Welfare and Labour Market Services: n Exploration of the Recent ustralian Experience aul Oslington rofessor of Economics School of Business and School of Theology, ustralian Catholic University. Telephone: paul.oslington@acu.edu.au Web: bstract Over the last twenty years ustralian governments have delivered an increasing proportion (now over 50%) of welfare and labour market services though contracts with church-related not for profit organisations. Mostly this has worked well for the government, delivering cost savings and political benefits, with surprisingly little debate about the appropriateness of church involvement. Cost savings have been delivered through exploitation of government monopsony power, competition among the churches, de-unionisation of welfare workforces, as well as taking advantage of the accumulated infrastructure and volunteer workforces of the churches. Government has also been able to free ride on training and innovation provided by the church organizations, and shift much of the risk to them. Contract compliance costs have been higher than expected. Doubts though are rising about the sustainability of the arrangements. Growth and the problematic agency relationship with the government has brought changes in organisational culture and confusion about the nature of their Christian missional basis. longside the growth of these organisations has been the decline of the mainline churches to which they are linked, leading to a shift in the centre of gravity of mainline churches from congregations to social service organisations. Such a shift, combined with the dependence on revenue from contracting affects their public engagement. It also intensifies the need for new theological accounts of contracts and markets. This paper explores the economic and theological issues raised by these developments.

2 Introduction Large research project in early stages Significance of the ustralian experiment. Outline of history of contracting welfare and labour market services in ustralia ustralia as a penal colony, with the nglican Church as the moral policeman, they never an established church. Catholic presence. Scottish resbyterian presence. The Secular universities. Strong church schooling system. Federation ustralian Constitution. S116. The Commonwealth shall not make any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, all for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion, and no religious test shall be required for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth. State law also relevant. Gradual transfer of responsibility for education, health and social service provision to the state. Catholics retained their schools as the key to Catholic identity. Other church schools. Schools - State aid for Catholic schools from the 1960s. Job Network following election of the Howard government in 1996, Commonwealth employment service privatized, and tender for employment services in Disability services at State level. ged care church dominated. Hospitals. Relationship counseling. School chaplaincy program funded by the federal government. SRE in NSW.

3 Why Contracting? Cost and Quality - Efficiency from competitive discipline. Or transfers - De-unionisation - Cost savings through church infrastructure, altruistic workforces and volunteering. - Free riding on training. - Free riding on innovation. - Client trust olitics. - Co-option. - Blame shifting.

4 gency Relationships Government Church Church Unemployed Church

5 Economic Issues - Quality erosion and a fixed-price contracts (rather than cost-plus contracts) - Efficiency losses from government monopsony power. - Reduced collaboration - Reduced advocacy. - Reduced innovation. - Risk sharing. Theological Issues - Markets - Ecclesiology New Models - Sustaining religious mission in contracting environment. - artnership Collaborative governance Conclusion Future of the arrangements Future of the Churches as service providers.

6 References Bäckström, nders and Grace Davie, Eds. (2010). Welfare and Religion in 21st Century Europe: Volume 1 - Configuring the Connections. bingdon, shgate. Billis, D. and H. Glennerster (1998). Human Services and the Voluntary Sector: Towards a Theory of Comparative dvantage. Journal of Social olicy 27: Blank, R. M. (2000). When Can ublic olicy Makers Rely on rivate Markets? The Effective rovision of Social Services. Economic Journal 110(462): C Bolton,. and M. Dewatripont (2005). Contract Theory Cambridge, Mass., MIT ress. Bretherton, Luke (2010). Christianity & Contemporary olitics Oxford, Wiley-Blackwell. Brennan, Frank (2007). cting on Conscience: How Can We Responsibly Mix Law, Religion and olitics St. Lucia, University of Queensland ress. Considine, M. (2001). Enterprising States: The ublic Management of Welfare to Work Melbourne, CU. Dickey, Brian (1987). No Charity There: Short History of Social Welfare in ustralia.rev. Sydney, llen & Unwin. Dixit,. K. (2005). "Incentive Contracts for Faith-Based Organizations to Deliver Social Services" in Economic Theory in a Changing World: olicy Modelling for Growth ed S. Lahiri and. Maiti. New Delhi:,Oxford University ress. Frame, T. R. (2006). Church and State: ustralia's Imaginary Wall Sydney, UNSW ress. Hamilton, C. and S. Maddison (2007). Silencing Dissent: How the ustralian Government Is Controlling ublic Opinion and Stifling Debate Sydney, llen & Unwin. Hughes,. (2006). Welfare and the Role of the Churches. ointers 16(2): Le Grand, J. (2007). The Other Invisible Hand : Delivering ublic Services through Choice and Competition U. Maddox, Marion (2005). God under Howard: The Rise of the Religious Right Sydney, llen and Unwin. Ormerod, N. (2000). Seek First the Kingdom of God: Church gencies and Job Search. ustralasian Catholic Record 77(4): Oslington,. (2002). "Economic and Theological Issues in the Contracting out of Welfare and Labour Market Services" in The Church and the Free Market edited by Brian Howe. Melbourne, ustralian Theological Forum. Oslington,., Ed. (2003). Economics and Religion. Cheltenham, Edward Elgar 2 volumes. Oslington,. (2005). Contracting out of ssistance to the Unemployed: Implications of the ustralian Experiment. Economic Record 81(252): Oslington,. (2008). ublic Theology: Some Measures and ustralian Reflections. Colloquium: The ustralian and New Zealand Theological Review 40(2): owell, Ruth (2010) 2011 National Church Life Survey Summary roposal NCLS Research roductivity Commission (2009). Contribution of the Not-for-rofit Sector Report, Canberra utnam, R. and D. Campbell (2010). merican Grace: How Religion Is Reshaping Our Civic and olitical Lives. Rose-ckerman, S. (1986). The Economics of Nonprofit Institutions Oxford University ress. Saunders,. and M. Stewart-Weeks, Eds. (2009). Supping with the Devil? Government Contracts and the Non-rofit Sector. Sydney, Centre for Independent Studies, CIS olicy Forum 16. Swain, S (2009) "Welfare Work and Charitable Organisations" Encyclopedia of Religion in ustralia ed J. Jupp, CU. Wuthnow, R. (2004). Saving merica? : Faith-Based Services and the Future of Civil Society rinceton, U.