Social Policy Internet Guide
Keeping Up to Date
Capital Monitor's University Intranet
Provides current and historical legal and political and regulatory information. Updated throughout the day, Capital Monitor contains Federal Bills Monitor, Acts Assented 1998-, Proclamations 1997-, Tax Rulings 2000-, High Court rulings 1998-, Budget, 1998 and 2001 Elections, and their Canberra Newsletter. There is also a NSW Bills Monitor, Acts Assented 1999- , and NSW Newsletter. Newsletters contain Press Statements, Policy Changes, New Regulations, Orders, Bills etc. It also tracks information by selected Topics.
url: Link to Capital monitor
Australian Review of Public Affairs
Journal published at the University of Sydney containing articles, research and reviews on Australian public policy.
url: http://www.australianreview.net/
Australian Policy Online
Maintained by the Institute for Social Research at Swinburne University of Technology, APO provides a central website for locating research material on Australian social and cultural policy
url: http://www.apo.org.au/index.shtml
Online Opinion: Australia's e-journal of Social and Political debate
"On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit e-journal that aims to provide a forum for public social and political debate about current Australian issues"
url: http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/default.asp
Policy Library
Comprehensive online resource library for Social Policy issues, includes material from many countries. A searchable database of freely available working papers on policy is available at this website. url: http://www.policylibrary.com/
Australian Federal and State Government Websites
Gold: Government On-line Directory: The Official Guide to the Australian Federal Government
Locate Government Departments, Authorities and Agencies involved in a specific policy area.
url: http://gold.directory.gov.au/
Australian Commonwealth Government Budget
Full-text available for Budget Speech, highlights, overview, papers, Ministerial statements, portfolio budget statements,
mid-year economic and fiscal outlooks and final budget outcomes.
url: http://www.budget.gov.au/
Australian Department of Health and Ageing
Publications, media releases, programs and links.
url: http://www.health.gov.au/
Australian Government. Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Major government policy areas incliding Office of Indigenous Policy; Office of the Status of Women &
Social Policy Division.
url: http://www.dpmc.gov.au/
Australian Government. Department Family and Community Services.
(Formerly the Deparment of Social Security) Information and documentation on programmes, policy, research & legislation and the full-text of the
Annual Report (PDF format) and strategic plan, selected DSS policy research papers & articles from the department's
Social Security Journal and the Social Security Act 1991. The website also includes a Guide to Social Security Payments.
url: http://www.facs.gov.au/
Centrelink
Information for recipients of Social Security Payments. Centrelink provides information
on services delivered by the Departments of Social security; Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs;
Health and Family Services and primary Industry and Energy. Hopefully all customers have access to the web.
url: http://www.centrelink.gov.au/
NSW Department of Community Services
Basic information on operations & services, committees & bodies and the location of sydney and
regional offices.
url: http://www.community.nsw.gov.au/
Australian Government. Australian Institute for Health and Welfare.
Australia's national agency for health and welfare statistics and information.Includes the full-text of two of
it's major publications Australia's Health 2000 and Australia's Welfare 1999. The website includes subject portals which provide quick access to information in a specific
subject area such as housing, drug and alcohol abuse, mental and population health
url: http://www.aihw.gov.au/
New South Wales Cabinet Office Homepage
"The Cabinet Office (TCO) reports to the Premier of New South Wales. The Office acts as the Premier's primary source of policy advice, assists the Cabinet in making collective decisions about Government policy and co-ordinates the development of Government policy" Excellent source for locating current NSW policy changes
url: http://www.cabinet.nsw.gov.au/publications
The NSW Premier's key policy advisory body on "...youth issues and the management of youth issues by Government." This website includes information about the Youth Advisory Council, and the Council's Annual Report, media releases and Overview of the NSW Government Response to the Report Into Youth Violence in NSW by the Legislative Council Standing Committee on Social Issues.
url: http://www.youth.nsw.gov.au/minister_and_policy/youth_action_plan/youth_policy_index
NSW Office of Drug Policy
Comprehensive source for New South Wales Government policy on drugs includes papers, reports, legislation, court information, crime reporting and plans of action
url: http://www.druginfo.nsw.gov.au/
Report on Government services
Steering Committee for the Review of Commonwealth/State Service
Provision, Performance Monitoring.Published by the Productivity Commission. The Commission is a review and advisory body on miccroeconomic policy and regulation. The report includes sections on policy developments in
different areas of government service and performance indicators for the efficiency and effectiveness of these services. In some instances the report identifies service areas subject to revies.
The Productivity Commission may also publishes other reports that may evaluate outcomes of policy related programmes.
url: http://www.pc.gov.au/gsp/rogs/index.html
Australian Advocacy, Research & Social Welfare Organisations
Australian Council of Social Service
"The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) is the national peak council of the community welfare
sector in Australia "..the principal voice of low income and disadvantaged people in social and economic
policy matters." Key areas of social and economic policy are, economic development and taxation, employment, education and training,
social security and income support, community services, health, including mental health, housing and urban development,
law and justice and rural and regional communities. This website includes text of the most recent ACOSS annual report, media releases and selected documents.
url: http://www.acoss.org.au/
The comprehensive web site for the Australian trade union movement.
url: http://www.actu.asn.au/
Australian Youth Policy and Action Coalition (AYPAC)
"The Australian Youth Policy and Action Coalition (AYPAC) is Australia's peak youth affairs organisation. AYPAC
provides a voice on issues and policies relating to young people.
The AYPAC membership is a strong and diverse coalition of youth affairs organisations, individuals and young
people. The organisation's ability to be a successful advocate for young people and the youth sector is based in the
strength and diversity of its membership." This website includes media releases, newsletter, publication and issues section.
url: http://www.ayac.org.au/
The source
Australian government portal for services and issues relating to young people. Maintained by the Department of Family and Community Services.
url: http://www.thesource.gov.au/text/default.htm
Anglicare
Anglican based Welfare Agency provides access to service and programme information and the text of media releases & CARE magazine.
url: http://www.anglicare.org.au/
Benevolent Society of New South Wales
"The Benevolent Society, Australia's first charity, draws on a long heritage of
caring. Its work has always centred on disadvantaged groups in the community, children and older
people. The focal points for these groups are the Centre on Ageing, the Centre for Children
and the Centre for Women's Health."
url: http://www.bensoc.asn.au/
Brotherhood of St Laurence
"The Brotherhood of St Laurence is a Christian organisation committed to a just society through the identification and involvement with the poor and
disadvantaged. " This website includes submissions to government on various aspects of social policy in Australia,
social action and research, special sections on housing, unemployment and poverty and media releases.
url: http://www.bsl.org.au/
Evatt Foundation
The Evatt Foundation is the Australian Labour Movement's leading research organisation.
url: http://evatt.labor.net.au
Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance
Organisation based at Griffith University which includes CAPSM: Centre for Australian Public Sector Managementset up to ndertake and promote research into the effectiveness and efficiency
of the public sector in Australia, and to analyse the role of the public
sector in the Australian community.
url: http://www.griffith.edu.au/centre/kceljag/
Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research
"The Melbourne Institute conducts applied economic and social research at the University of Melbourne. It was established in 1962 under the directorship
of Professor Ronald Henderson...The Melbourne Institute is a department in the Faculty of Economics and Commerce."
url: http://melbourneinstitute.com/
Management Alternatives.
Paul Bullen's website providing "...ideas, information, tools, resources and publications that will be useful for small non-profit,
community based, welfare, church organisations, particularly those providing human services. The information in
the site has been developed through working with people in these organisations." Data from surveys of the non-profit community services sector is also available from this
website.
url: http://www.mapl.com.au/default.htm
Mission Australia
Church based social advocacy group.
url: http://www.mission.com.au/cm/index.aspx
National Women's Justice Coalition [NWJC] Australia
Outstanding website with information on and links to an extremely wide range of policy related information.
url: http://www.nwjc.org.au/
NATSEM: National Centre for Social & Economic Modelling.
University of Canberra, "NATSEM aims to enhance social and economic debate and analysis, by analysing
microdata, developing microsimulation models and applying them to relevant research and consultancy" Includes full text of
papers produced by NATSEM covering income distribution, housing, social and health services, low income families, youth and
ageing.
url: http://www.natsem.canberra.edu.au/
NCOSS: Council of Social Service of New South Wales.
An excellent resource for locating information on this organisations social policy. This website
includes media relaese arranged both chronologically and by subject, activities, articles & speeches, NCOSS news, reports and submissions
and an outline of NCOSS Social Policy priorities. NCOSS is currently developing a "watching brief" which will monitor
all major social policy portfolios.
url: http://www.ncoss.org.au
St. Vincent de Paul Society. State Council of NSW-ACT.
Catholic Social Justice and Welfare Organisation inclides policy papers on Mental Health Crisis April 1995,
Homeless Single Women: the New Face of the 1990's; Growing Old - Who Cares ? ; Living Under Pressure: Issues Facing Low Income Families September;
The Obstacle Course: Issues Facing Young People;In Defence of The Bush April.
url: http://www.vinnies.org.au/
Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC)
University of New South Wales research centre which sponsors research work on important aspects of social policy in
Australia, particularly in relation to individuals and groups experiencing social and economic disadvantage. This website includes
information on seminars, summaries of recent research & a preliminary research agenda for 1999-2001 and publications. Some publications are available for downloading.
The SPRC newsletter is freely available at the site.
url: http://www.sprc.unsw.edu.au/
Refugee Council of Australia
"The Refugee Council of Australia is a non-profit peak organisation. It provides information on
and advocacy for refugees and humanitarian entrants in Australia on behalf of its 120 individual
and organisational members. It is not a part of the Australian Government." we site includes statistics, factsheets, news and publication
information.
url: http://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/
Uniya Jesuit Social Justice Centre.
"Uniya is a social justice research and action centre based in Kings
Cross (Sydney, NSW) which works locally and globally towards justice for marginalised groups." Details of research prgrams and extensive list of publications.
url: http://www.uniya.org/
Wesley Mission Online
Reports, programmes, services and press statements.
url: http://www.wesleymission.org.au/
Women's Electoral Lobby
"a national independent political organisation dedicated to creating a society where women's participation and potential
are unrestricted, acknowledged and respected and where women and men share equally in society's responsibilities and
rewards." Website includes media releases, submissions to public inquiries, submissions are available from 1973 onward.
url: http://www.wel.org.au/
Comparative Social Policy
Comparative Social Policy
University of Central Lancashire(UK) web guide for Comparative Social Policy. The guide includes sections on Websites Relating to Social Policy Issues in a Variety of Countries and Social Policy Information on Particular Countries.
url: http://www.uclan.ac.uk/facs/health/socialwork/socialpolicy/links/comparative.htm
Clearinghouse on International Developments in Child, Youth and Family Policies
Collated and maintained by Columbia University. "Clearinghouse coverage includes the topics or regimes usually considered as "Child, Youth, and Family Policy" in the industrialized nations of the world. Education is covered in part. Juvenile justice, culture, recreation, family law are not systematically covered but sometimes are within the scope of particular regimes or are considered as part of child and family policy in particular countries."
url: http://www.childpolicyintl.org/policies.html
Antidiscrimination Legislation: a worldwide summary
Summary compiled by International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), dated 1999. Due for update in 2004 url: http://www.iglhrc.org/site/iglhrc/content.php?type=1&id=87
"The European Centre is a UN-affiliated intergovernmental organization concerned with all aspects of social welfare policy and research. On the website you find information about projects, events, websites from 2003 - 2006, all book series, all books outside the series enriched with downloads, cross-references and external links."
url: http://www.euro.centre.org/
European Modules Social Policy Network
Includes download section containing articles on various aspects of social policy in European countries url: http://cms.euromodule.com/
International Council of Social Welfare
"The International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW) is a global non-governmental organization which
represents a wide range of national and international member organizations that seek to advance social
welfare, social justice and social development." Includes Information on activities, publications and the full-text
of policy papers.
url: http://www.icsw.org/
International Social Security Association.
ISSA's objective is to defend and promote Social security throughout the world.
Includes information on meetings and conferences, publications, ISSA bulletin and a Directory of Organisations Working in Social Security. This is a comprehensive source of information on social security issues throughout the world.
url: http://www.issa.int/engl/homef.htm
Comparative Research Programme on Poverty (CROP)
"CROP is an international NGO initiated in 1992 by the International Social Science Council. It is now one of the major programmes of the Council."
url: http://www.crop.org/
Centre for Comparative Research on Social Welfare
University of Stirling (UK) abstracts of key comparative social policy publications.
url: http://www.dass.stir.ac.uk/sections/ccrsw/index.php
Centre for Comparative Research on Social Welfare
Anglo-German Foundation for the Study of Industrial Society. Include full text of papers comparing various aspects of social policy.
url: http://www.agf.org.uk/
International Clearinghouse of Health System Reform Initiatives (ICHSRI)
Comprehensive collection of information on health reform throughout the world includes a searchable Literature Database of recent articles, journals, and abstracts. This website also includes a small collection of country profiles mainly for South and Central American countries. url: http://new.hst.org.za/links/index.php/68/
Center for Comparative Immigration Studies. Center based at University of California-San Diego, includes the full text of papers relating to immigration issues throughout the world url: http://www.ccis-ucsd.org/
The Inter-University Committee on International Migration
Comprehensive resource on International Immigration issues url: http://web.mit.edu/cis/www/migration/
International & Regional Websites
CASE: Centre for the Analysis of Social Exclusion.
The research focus of this centre is social policy in relation to social mobility and exclusion, social welfare institutions, family behaviour and the
effectiveness of government social policy.
url: http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/Case/
Centre for Public Policy and Management.
Based at Robert Gordon University Aberdeen, Scotland (UK)contains links to UK Social Policy information and a guide to Social Policy on the web
url: http://www2.rgu.ac.uk/publicpolicy/introduction/
Moving Ideas: the Electronic Policy Network
A United States Nonprofit Think Tank providing analysis and comment on a wide range of social issues &
policy, economics, social trends and public policy. Although the main emphasis is on the United States, commentary and discussion
concerns trends throughout the world.
url: http://www.movingideas.org/
Human Services Policy Center
University of Washington Graduate School Of Public Affairs. "The Human Services Policy Center (HSPC)'s mission
is to improve the well-being of children and families..." by conducting policy and data analysis.
url: http://hspc.org/
International Social Security Association.
ISSA's objective is to defend and promote Social security throughout the world.
Includes information on meetings and conferences, publications, ISSA bulletin and a Directory of Organisations Working in Social Security.
url: http://www.issa.int/
International Labour Organization
url: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/index.htm/
UK based "The Institute for Fiscal Studies is a research institute which exists to provide top quality economic analysis independent of government, political party or any other vested interest. IFS exerts substantial influence through publications, the media, close contacts with civil servants and regular meetings with Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet members." Many IFS Publications are available in full-text.
url: http://www.ifs.org.uk/
Institute for Policy Studies
"The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is Britain's leading
centre-left think tank. Its aim is to promote and contribute to a
greater understanding of key social, economic and political questions."
url: http://www.ippr.org.uk/
Joseph Rowntree Foundation
UK organisation founded by an act of parliament in 1959 concerned with research and development
in the fields of fields of housing, social care and social policy. This website includes a searchable database of findings produced by the foundation.
Many findings are available in full and include links to additional material.
url: http://www.jrf.org.uk/default.asp
OECD Statistics Portal
OECD social statistics organised by Subject categories. University of Sydney Staff and students also have access to SourceOECD which provides access to full text of all OECD publications. url: http://www.oecd.org/statsportal/0,2639,en_2825_293564_1_1_1_1_1,00.html
Policy Library
Comprehensive online resource library for Social Policy issues, includes material from many countries. A searchable database of freely available working papers on policy is available at this website. url: http://www.policylibrary.com/
Russell Sage Foundation.
US private foundation whose current research aims to strengthen the methods, data,
and theoretical core of the social sciences as a means of improving social policies. Includes information on publications
and projects and the full-text of Working Papers of visiting scholars.
url: http://www.russell.org
United Nations Gateway to Social Policy and Development
Comprehensive website for UN Social Policy includes discussion papers and documentation relating to specific policy areas. url: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/index.html
Reference Sources
University of Sydney Guide to Social Policy Research
Library Research Guide for Social Policy Research available for Downloading (Word format), University of Sydney Staff and students only.
ParlInfo Web
ParlInfo Web provides access to the Parliamentary Document Repository. ParlInfo contains over one million documents relating to the work of the Australian Parliament including Parliamentary debateshttp://parlinfoweb.aph.gov.au/piweb/
Commonwealth Parliamentary Library: Publications
Excellent collection of online documents which provide comprehensive overviews of key policy areas. The collection is searchablehttp://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/index.htm
Commonwealth Parliamentary Library Social Policy Guidehttp://www.aph.gov.au/library/intguide/sp/
NSW Parliamentary Library Research Publications 1994+http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/publications.nsf/V3ListRPSubject
Parliament of Australia. Search Service
Search a wide range of Parliamentary information including Hansards, legislation, constitution.
http://search.aph.gov.au/search/
Federal Parliament Media Releases
Media releases organised by subject.
http://www.australia.gov.au/media
University of Sydney. Law Library Guide. Law Web Resources
Access to a wide range of legislative and case resources freely available via the Internethttp://www.library.usyd.edu.au/libraries/law/freeweblaw.html
Australian Bureau of Statistics
University of Sydney Staff and Students have access to the full textof ABS publication from 1998 onward. http://www.abs.gov.au
Social Security Programs throughout the World
Information on Social Security Programs throughout the world, in both HTML and PDF format (the latter requiring Adobe Acrobat for downloading and viewing). "Beginning with the March 2002 edition, SSPTW now appears in four volumes published on a rolling basis every 6 months. Each volume focuses on a specific region of the world: Europe, Asia and the Pacific, Africa, and the Americas." The reports contain information on old-age, survivors, disability
insurance, sickness and maternity coverage, work injury provisions, unemployment compensation, and family allowances.
Each section is further subdivided into: dates of basic laws, coverage, source of funds, contribution rates and ceilings,
qualifying conditions, benefit amounts, and administrative organizations."
url: http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/progdesc/ssptw/
Social Security Web sites Around the World.
Links to social security agencies and organizations around the world.
url: http://www.ssa.gov/international/links.html
Social Security Act 1991 & Guide to the Act.
The Australian Social Security Act 1991 from the Commonweealth Department of Family and Community Services.
url: http://www.facs.gov.au/sspal/index.htm
Cost of Social Security 1949-1993 - a Joint Database of ILO and MZES/EURODATA
"This online database on "The Cost of Social Security" (COSS) contains the financial transactions of social security schemes of 23 Western and Central European countries from 1949 to 1993. In some cases (e.g. Switzerland, Ireland, the Netherlands) data had also been reported for the year 1948 although these have not been included in the database. The time-series are related to single institutions of social protection, i.e. schemes, funds, agencies and programmes." url: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/socsec/publ/css/mannhei1.htm
Welfare Reform Digest (United Kingdom)
Compiled and maintained by the Social Policy Information Service of
the British Library the Welfare Reform Digest aims to help social policy practitioners and researchers to keep up to date with literature on welfare reform. The library "...systematically scans the
quality press, the British Library's intake of social science books and government publications, and a wide range of trade and academic journals to
identify relevant material. We then produce full bibliographic references with detailed abstracts to give both the flavour of the cut and thrust of the debate
and an overview of the research literature."
url: http://www.bl.uk/collections/social/sswelfare.html
Full-text documents
Parliament of Australia. Parliamentary Library. Social Policy Group. Mutual Obligation/Work for the Dole
Electronic Brief providing an excellent overview of the mutual obligation policy in relation to the work for the dole scheme. This brief includes links to other useful resources and historical background to the formation of this policy.
url: http://www.aph.gov.au/library/intguide/sp/dole.htm
Policy Implications of the Ageing of Australia's Population Conference
Full text of conference papers available in PDF format from this website. url: http://www.pc.gov.au/research/confproc/ageing/
National Social Policy Conference 2001
The National Social Policy Conference was held in July at the University of New South
Wales. The Conference is organised by the Social Policy Research Centre. Some conference papers are available in full-text from the Conference website.
url: http://www.sprc.unsw.edu.au/nspc2001/index.htm
Mutual Obligation: Policy and Practice in Australia Compared with the UK
Curtain, Richard. Dusseldorp Skills Forum. Key document on mutual obligation policy.
url: http://www.dsf.org.au/papers/ol/MutualObligation/MutualObligation.html
Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services: Publications.
Many departmental publications are available in full-text.
url: http://www.facs.gov.au/internet/facsinternet.nsf/aboutfacs/publications.htm
NATSEM Publications.
The full-text of conference, discussion, policy & technical papers and income distribution reports
are available from the National Centre for Social & Economic Modelling. Papers are in PDF format and require Adobe Acrobat Reader
for downloading and viewing. Papers cover the following topics income distribution, housing, social and health services, low income families, youth and
ageing.
url: http://www.natsem.canberra.edu.au/publications.jsp
Social Policy Research Centre (UNSW): Publications
Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales discussion and conference papers available for downloading. Papers are in Micosoft Word or
HTML format.
url: http://www.sprc.unsw.edu.au/publication.htm
Australian Institute for Health and Welfare: Publications
Key data on Australia's Welfare services.
url: http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Australia's Health
Key statistical source or many aspects of Australian Health Services.
url: http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10014
Family and community services: when is competition the answer?
From thw Australian Commonwealth Dept. of Health and Family Services HFS Occasional Papers Series the text of the Departments submission to
the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family and Community Affairs Inquiry into Competititve Tendering of Welfare Service
Delivery. Document is in PDF format.
url: http://www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/Publishing.nsf/Content/2A453BB3A6A52328CA256F18005750C0/$File/HFSOCC2.PDF
Social Security Payments for the Aged, those with Disabilities and Carers 1909 to 1998
Research paper from the Australian Parliamentary Library by Dale Daniels
Social Policy Group, 16 February 1999
url: http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rp/1998-99/99rp11.htm
Community Participation in Parliamentary Committees: Opportunities and Barriers
Kate Burton, Politics and Public Administration Group, Parliamentary Library Research Paper 10 1999-2000.
30 November 1999
url: http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rp/1999-2000/2000rp10.htm
Parliament of Australia. Parliamentary Library. Publications.
Full-text of many papers prepared for parliamentarians on a wide range of issues many of them policy related.
url: http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/
International Labour Organization. Papers
url: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inst/papers/index.htm#dp
OECD Statistics Portal
OECD social statistics organised by Subject categories. University of Sydney Staff and students also have access to SourceOECD which provides access to full text of all OECD publications. url: http://www.oecd.org/statsportal/0,2639,en_2825_293564_1_1_1_1_1,00.html
United Kingdom. House of Commons. Library Research Papers.
Full-text of research papers compiled by the staff of the House of Commons Library for members of the House of Commons. Papers cover a wide range of issues, many relate to areas of Social Policy in Britain.
Papers are available for 1998 and 1999.
url: http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_publications_and_archives/research_papers.cfm
United Kingdom. Home Office. Research Development and Statistics. Publications.
Full-text of Statistical bulletins & Research and Occasional papers many relevant to social policy research.
Most publications are available for downloading in PDF format.
url: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/index.htm
United Kingdom. Home Office.
Documentation is available for many aspects of UK Social Policy