Introduction

Social exclusion has emerged over the last three decades as a major research topic and a new organising theme for social policy. It has influenced how social issues are conceived, debated, researched and addressed, particularly in Europe. Its modern usage began in France in the 1970s to capture the idea that certain marginalised groups face multiple barriers (not just economic) that effectively exclude them from the French social protection system (Peace, 2001; Whiteford, 2001). The fight against exclusion has been at the centre of the EU's social agenda since the Maastricht Treaty was first signed in 1992 and its significance has grown in line with the expansion of the EU itself. Following increased interest in the topic in Britain, social exclusion was identified as one of the thematic priorities of its ESRC (1997) and exerted a powerful influence on the formulation of British social policy under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

Government commitment to an inclusion agenda in Australia has lagged behind developments in Europe but is fast catching up. The social policy agenda of the Howard government in the period 1996-2007 was built around a concept of mutual obligation that had a weak philosophical basis (Goodin, 2001), and did little to offer real opportunities to those with limited capacities who were unable to compete in the labour market (Saunders, 2001). The Reference Group on Welfare Reform, established to develop a new blueprint for the social support system, was motivated by a vision that ‘the nation's social support system must be judged by its capacity to help people participate economically and socially’ (Reference Group on Welfare Reform, 2000, p 3) although this had relatively little impact on the recommendations developed, and even less on those that were implemented.

The focus in Australia over much of this period (and more recently in New Zealand; see Welfare Working Group, 2010) has been on joblessness and exclusion from the labour market and the need for reform of the social security (‘welfare’) system to make work more attractive (and welfare less attractive) to workingage benefit recipients. Despite this narrow focus, the underlying idea of social inclusion has persisted as a feature of Australian social policy and debate over its scope, meaning and implications has gradually broadened (in both academic and policy circles).