The Responsibility for Child and Aged Care: Shaping Policies for the Future

Like other comparable English-speaking countries, Australia is looking increasingly to the market as the means of meeting human needs. This raises questions about the responsibility of providing care for those, who, by virtue of their age or other characteristics, are excluded from the labour market and are unable to provide for or care for themselves. It is widely accepted that, in most instances, families have had and continue to assume primary responsibility for the care of young children and older people in need of support. However, experience in the fields of aged care and child support suggests that state support and intervention has been required when families are unable to continue in those roles. As the existing ‘safety net’ of state intervention is coming under unprecedented demographic, economic and political pressure there is a need to re-examine alternative options for providing care in an ageing society. Following a brief, comparative review of the history of aged care and child care in Australia, this paper considers the options and implications of shifting the balance between the various potential sources of support. These include care provided by unpaid family caregivers, care provided by the voluntary community-based agencies, market-based care provisions, and care provisions supported by the state. Attention is drawn to the implications of the changing character of aged care as well as to the links between labour force participation and the ability of family caregivers (especially women) to provide care, and to the impact of different forms of provision on equity between and across generations.