Silver Bullets and TED Talks: Sketching Ideas on the Government/Not-for-profit Nexus in the Australian Welfare State.

The government/not-for-profit nexus is critical in the context of ensuring effective and efficient delivery of human services. In modern history, developed countries such as Australia, have placed emphasis very much on the efficiency of service delivery while service effectiveness often attracts rhetorical attention but little real positive institution building or support. The trouble is, this is not the first time we have arrived at this point. The Welfare State, most commonly recognised as commencing immediately after World War II following the
publication of the 1942 Beveridge report in the United Kingdom, was in fact developed in response to the socially destructive impact of institutionalised market economics identified well before the turn of the twentieth century. This paper positions modern debates shaping the government/not-for-profit nexus in the ‘lost history’ of the Welfare State, contextualising these lessons to highlight the continuing negative impact of market institutions on the delivery of
effective and efficient human services in Australia, including in preventing effective collaboration in service funding and delivery. It highlights that history tells us we need deeper thinking at a system-wide level in order to develop the most effective institutions and that the Welfare State is a sound institutional base for building a systemic response to service needs.