How much difference did the Howard Government make to Australian society? The heat and hyperbole of partisan controversy and the passing parade of media excitements mean it is often difficult to get perspective on a government's achievements and failures. Moreover, because of the credit and blame games that lie at the heart of party competition, the focus is usually introspective, looking first at domestic factors, and especially at party political factors.

Such a focus greatly exaggerates a government's power to influence social and economic developments, but to say a government has more limited power than political debates suggest is not to say that it has no power. The Howard Government was in power for more than 11 years, a sufficient period for its policies to have a cumulative impact on the distribution of public resources and social practices. But equally over that time, social and economic changes, over which the government had little influence, were also occurring. And of course, many important features of Australian society continued with little change.

This chapter is guided by two central aspirations. The first is that by examining statistical trends systematically, a more reliable picture of policy developments will emerge. The second is that by examining Australian developments compared with those in other advanced democracies, more perspective on policies, performance and wider social influences can be gained.