000			01472pab a2200169 454500
008			180718b2001 xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
100			_aHoward Cosmo
245			_aBureaucrats in the social policy process: administrative policy entrepreneurs and the case of working nation
260			_c2001
300			_ap.56-65
362			_aSep
520			_aMuch of the contemporary literature on Australian social policy tends to focus on broad environmental and institutional variables and to downplay the importance of the social policy decision-making process and its participants. Yet the study of specific cases in social policy-making reveals that senior administrators often have a significant impact on the direction of social policy reform. The income support reforms adopted as part of the former Federal Labor government's Working Nation package illustrate the potential for bureaucrats to influence the direction of change. Senior administrative officers within the former Commonwealth Department of Social Security played a crucial role in promoting reforms which increased the generosity of the means test on unemployment payments. These bureaucrats behaved as policy entrepreneurs and worked in a strategic manner to garner support for and reduce opposition to their proposals within the decision-making process. - Reproduced
650			_aSocial policy
650			_aCivil service
773			_aAustralian Journal of Public Administration
909			_a50184
999			_c50184 _d50184