Politics Reconstructed

An exclusive extract from a brilliant new book about economic reform in Australia

Dear readers,

I want to bring to your attention to a new book by Australian academic, Ben Spies-Butcher.

Politics, Inequality and the Australian Welfare State After Liberalisation is an essential read for anyone wanting to understand how the governance of our island-nation has changed over the last forty years. It is also an insight into the future of progressive reform. Spies-Butcher provides a deep dive into the changes and continuities of the relationship between economics and politics that have seen a unique, Australian version of neoliberalism emerge since the early 1980s. With Ben’s permission, I am publishing this extract, and it is a section that nicely captures the analysis he provides. But by all means, grab a copy of the book and read the whole thing.¹

Extract from Politics, Inequality and the Australian Welfare State After Liberalisation by Ben Spies-Butcher

The welfare state is not what it was. Decades of liberalisation have transformed how governments provide social policy a…