1. Multiculturalism and Inclusive Growth
MAV 2016
Paul Smyth, University of Melbourne

2. Todays agenda: inclusive and sustainable growth
In past ‘social’ issues as separate from economic
1980s\90s model (“neoliberalism”)- social spending eg multiculturalism like an ‘optional extra’
Today we have to bring the economic and the social together
See Smyth and Buchanan Inclusive Growth in Australia (2013) ; and ALP’s Growing Together (2016)
Need a good society (include multiculturalism) to underpin a strong economy
Happening around the world: Brexit – trump- ‘mediscare’

3. After World War 2 social \ economic led policy separate lives
Keynesian economics: full employment
social policy: Welfare state
separate lives but were thought to complement each other

4. From the 1980s they were against each other
Radical Lefties critiqued welfare state as Reform (‘badiads’)not Revolution
had to get rid of capitalism as the driver of inequality

5. Radical Right
Radical right (neoliberalism) said welfare state ruining the economy
Hayek\ Friedman (leading figures)
Social welfare a cost (waste) not an investment
People on welfare as bludgers
replace public services with private markets and volunteers (a ‘big society’)

6. The new model Two big ideas
From the welfare state to the social investment state
From the Washington consensus (neoliberalism) to Inclusive Growth

7. Social investment state (1998-)
New social risks (eg work-family – ageing)
Invest in capabilities \ citizens to master risks
‘Stocks’ – education and skills agenda
‘Flows’ – between work\ family\ education\ retirement
‘Buffers’ (eg unemployment benefits)
Taken up in Australia from National Reform Agenda to Rudd-Gillard
social inclusion agenda (the ‘3rd Way’)

8. Inclusive growth (2008-) OECD, IMF, World Bank, ADB, WeF etc
‘Pro poor’ not ‘trickle down’
Concern with inequality - Piketty, Atkinson
Social inequality an economic problem
Capability-freedom\ millenium development goals
UK PM: Theresa May’s Inequality Audit

9. 1980s-90s V UN Agenda 2030
Residual social policies – a cost, safety nets V Social policies as investment. Universal policies (for all), redistribution back in the development agenda
Commercialisation of social services, cost recovery V Universal public services
targeted safety nets, pensions privatization V Social protection Floors for all and universal public social security systems, reversing pension privatization
Privatization of public assets, services/ minimalist government V Building state capacity to promote development, public investment, technology

10. Part 2 Inclusive Governance
INCULSIVE GROWTH NEEDS
INCLUSIVE GOVERNANCE
(see ‘Power to Persuade’ web site and materials on Social Service Futures Dialogue)

11. Towards inclusive governance OECD (2015)
“In the last three decades, efficiency became one of the most important guiding principles of how governments operate and how services are delivered…often putting equity or fairness considerations on the back burner”. Indeed fairness and efficiency were seen to be exclusive.
Now they are thought to go together so that “promoting inclusive growth requires strong, inclusive processes and institutions to counteract the forces that produce inequality”.

12. Towards inclusive governance (UNRISD 2016)
strategies for ‘social and\or environmental objectives have played second fiddle to crafting pro-growth and market-centred policies’
implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development presents a ‘partnerships and participation challenge’.
this is ‘an opportune moment to launch a global debate regarding the governance and politics of transformative change
imperative that mainstream … actors step out of the comfort zone of business-as-usual; question their assumptions about growth, free trade and PPPs and look into the black box of power relations that reproduce exclusionary and unsustainable patterns of development’

13. UNRISD
how do we create a ‘rights based approach’ to governance ‘that values contestation, institutionalised dialogue, bargaining and negotiation’, one that can equip active citizens to participate effectively in what will become the ‘new social contract’ for the twenty first century

14. Vic leads the way? Eccles DPC Vic – response to RC on dv
‘zeitgeist change’
a national reform movement
‘citizen engagement in the public sphere’ versus the market based models of the 90s and 2000s.
‘members of the public were encouraged to act as consumers. Now, increasingly, the public demands to be treated as citizens.’

15. From competition to co-production
Not rival businesses competing in markets policed by government stewards but
a network model in which three distinct sectors co-design and co-produce the public good.
The ‘public sector’ becomes a ‘public purpose sector comprising government, business, civil society and individual citizens’ with a shared responsibility.’

16. Public service Renew the public service: loss of institutional memory.
loss of ‘direct intelligence into what is going on at the local community level’.

17. The Community
NfPs not competitors in pretend markets but co- designers\producers of programs who can also bring communities behind them in effecting change.
‘These bodies’ often the best repositories of information, knowledge, understanding and experience of what specific problems need to be addressed and how.
‘community’ more than the agencies: enablers of voluntary action
Individual citizens should have access to a commission

18. Different skills
an active public sector: listening\ engaging bringing a range of perspectives together into a cohesive outcome.
Ngos: co-design creating a shared responsibility and accountability for the performance and outcomes of the system.

19. And Multicultualism?
Needs to be built into the new integrated economic-social agenda
Don’t leave it as a social ‘optional extra’. Emphasise:
1) ‘Citizenship’ : citizens of all cultures across Victoria entitled to an equal standard of social services. Demand an Equality Audit
2) ‘Community’ : stop the marketisation of civil society. Reinvest in genuine Not for Profit organisations as partners with government in multicultural community development
3) ‘Business’ build alliances with local business around education, training, employment to remove barriers and identify opportunites presented by a diverse community