Who Cares?: Life on Welfare in Australia

by Eve Vincent

The twentieth-century Australian welfare state made the bold promise to care for its citizens. But since the 1990s, social security has become increasingly conditional and punitive in its provision of this so-called care. Who Cares? outlines the perspectives of people affected by two recent welfare measures, offering an urgent account of the implications of these reforms. Eve Vincent has interviewed people who were impacted by the controversial cashless debit card, which limited discretionary spending, as well as those looking after small children who are compulsory participants in the program ParentsNext. Vincent challenges the very category of 'welfare recipient', which defines people exclusively by their relationship to paid work. And she asks who bears the burden of looking after vulnerable people once the welfare state's duty of care is displaced by surveillance and punishment? Who Cares? offers a new and deeply humane account of life on welfare today.

Genres: Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

Published February 21, 2023

Reviews

[Adelaide · Rating 4 out of 5]

Through a collection of vignettes and insights, Vincent illustrates the complexity of emotions felt by those on the cashless debit card and ParentsNext program in Australia. Refusing to conform to the stereotypical narrative, she explores the multifaceted experiences of recipients of welfare, and their interaction with dignity, shame, and representation of the self.

Most interesting is the discussion of the post-industrial pejorative use of ‘dependency’. No longer is it viewed as a social relation, but a personal failure: “Welfare dependency… caused moral/psychological dependency”. Ergo, an era of surveillance, punitive conditionality, and the independence imperative was born.

[Lorax · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. The content of this book is great and the research solid. Some chapters stand out, particularly the one on shame (“They think we’re rubbish”), where the author’s skill at translating stories of human relationships and emotions into a political framework shine. Minus a star or so for the somewhat clunky and unfocused writing. It often felt that the author tried to make the stories bigger than what they were, when presenting them more plainly would have sufficed. I don’t say this to minimise the stories themselves (as I think they were all valid and illustrative) but just to note the awkwardness with which they were sometimes presented. There was a lack of focus in the book’s themes, with covid popping in at times but not finding a firm place in the structure. “Low-carbon future” was thrown into the book’s penultimate sentence, without any background on this as a major theme that would warrant its place in the book’s conclusion. Overall, however, I enjoyed reading the stories and thinking about the political environment which shaped them.

[Tiny Possum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Human and real, thoughtful and urgent.

Compulsory prerequisite reading for anyone who feels entitled to have an opinion about "dole bludgers" without having ever been one.

My only gripe is that the academic style may make this text inaccessible to some who might otherwise benefit from its insight.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

i really liked the author's exploration of surveillance and punishment in australia's welfare system, as well as how really cruel and detached those bureaucratic processes can be and often are

[MacKenzie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great topics but poorly written