Australia is well-placed to develop-and redesign if
necessary-its welfare services to meet future demands and changing
family circumstances, according to Australia's Welfare
1997, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's third
biennial report on the nation's welfare services and
assistance.
The 430-page report will be launched at 11.40am on Thursday by
the Minister for Family Services, the Hon Mr Warwick Smith, MP, in
the Parliamentary Theatre at Parliament House, Canberra. The report
covers the areas of: welfare services expenditure, children's and
family services, housing assistance, children in need of
protection, services for homeless people, aged care, and disability
services.
A special feature chapter documents family changes in Australia
since the mid-1970s, and examines the implications for welfare
services of the current diversity of family arrangements and likely
future changes in the family. Professor Peter McDonald of the
Australian National University wrote this chapter.
Editor of Australia's Welfare 1997, Ms Helen Moyle, said the
data presented in the report helped governments and the community
more clearly see changes in areas of need, and the results of what
is being done in terms of service provision, service use, and
service outcomes.
'For example, a decline in the number of births will, somewhat
ironically, go hand-in-hand with an increase in demand for child
care as mothers continue to work. At the other end of the
life-cycle, over the next decade there will be sharp rises in the
numbers of people aged 75 and over living alone. This will place
heavier demands on privately provided community care and Home and
Community Care Services.'
Ms Moyle said that Australia's Welfare 1997 can be used
as a specialist reference in a particular field, or as a general
reference on welfare services in Australia.
Australia's Welfare 1997 shows that Australia is
spending more on welfare services per person than ever before.
Welfare services expenditure by governments and non-government
organisations in 1995-96 was $8.9 billion or $489 per person. This
is an increase in real terms of 62 percent, or 51 percent per
person, since 1989-90.
Australia's Welfare 1997 is the most comprehensive and
authoritative consolidation of nationally-available information on
welfare services in Australia. It will be available for sale from
Governmentt Info Shops and ABS Bookshops in all capital cities and
by Mail Order from the Australian Government Publishing Service for
$35.
20 November 1997
Further information: Ms Helen Moyle (Editor),
ph. 02 6244 1188 or 02 6249 8801 (ah); Dr Diane Gibson (Aged Care),
ph. 04 1924 0353 (mobile); Ms Helen Moyle (Children's and Family
Services), ph. 02 6244 1188; Ms Anne Broadbent (Children in Need of
Protection), ph. 02 6244 1157; Ms Ros Madden (Disability Services),
ph. 02 6244 1189; Mr John Goss (Expenditure), ph. 02 6244 1151;
Prof. Peter McDonald (Families and Welfare Services), ph. 02 6249
2129; or Mr David Wilson (Housing Assistance), ph. 02 6244
1202.
General media enquiries: Nigel Harding, Head -
Communication and Public Affairs, ph. 02 6244 1025 or 02 6282 0639
(ah).
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications Catalogue
for details.