I Want In

You might already be tired of hearing about 'working families', but that's fine because there are a lot of other catchphrases and buzzwords to work your way through. One of them is 'social inclusion'.

This idea really caught on about 10 years ago with the Blair government in the UK, although it looked at it from the other angle - 'social exclusion'.

In this country, South Australia (in many ways the most progressive State) has led the way. It established a Social Inclusion Unit (within the Premier's Department) and a Social Inclusion Board in 2002. The Rudd Government has now essentially nicked the idea and is doing the same thing.

So who is socially excluded and therefore needs to be socially included? Last week, I chaired a panel on this at the Australian Institute of Family Studies conference in Melbourne. I can't say the panel was comprehensive, but it did highlight some groups that do need help.

The homeless - Tony Nicholson from the Brotherhood of St Laurence spoke about them.

Senior Australians - Rhonda Parker, a former WA Cabinet Minister is these days a very effective advocate as Aged Care Commissioner.

The mentally ill - the Chief Federal Magistrate John Pascoe spoke movingly about the difficulties some people face when interacting with the legal system.

And indigenous children - their interests were highlighted by the deeply impressive Muriel Bamblett, who's the Chair of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care.

The Rudd Government is still getting going but it has made social inclusion a priority. It's one of the portfolios of Julia Gillard, and has its own Parly Sec. The polititicans have had a fair bit to say on this topic but (as always) it's what they do that matters. Unfortunately, it's not rocket science - it's much more difficult than that.