Under the first Labour government, these new policies[i] turned needs into rights and then allied these needs and rights with those of the middle classes drawing on a philosophy of the vulnerability of every individual in the face of wider forces.[ii] Family welfare started to dominate welfare policies.[iii] As the state’s welfare frontier expanded, it took the voluntary sector with it and sometimes opened up possibilities for volunteerism. Sectoral boundaries blurred.[iv] Many church proposals throughout the 1930s for state intervention on the issue of unemployment were rendered irrelevant.[v]
Footnotes
- [i] go to main content Michael Belgrave, ‘Needs and the State: Evolving Social Policy in New Zealand History’, in Bronwyn Dalley and Margaret Tennant, eds., Past Judgement, Dunedin, 2004, pp. 23–38, p. 29; McClure, 1998, p. 48.
- [ii] go to main content Margaret McClure, A Civilised Community: A History of Social Security in New Zealand 1898–1998, Auckland, 1998, p. 61.
- [iii] go to main content Bronwyn Dalley, Family Matters, Wellington, 1998, pp. 158, 164.
- [iv] go to main content Margaret Tennant, Past Judgement: Social Policy in New Zealand History, co-edited with Bronwyn Dalley, 2004, p. 48.
- [v] go to main content Peter Lineham, ‘The Voice of Inspiration? Religious Contributions to Social Policy’ in Bronwyn Dalley and Margaret Tennant, eds., Past Judgement, Dunedin, 2004, pp. 57–74, p. 66.