The Importance of Being Worthy

Abstract

Australians consider we have a modern comprehensive welfare service, one in which charity, worthiness, and do‐gooderism are anachronisms found only in isolated welfare agencies run by obscure sects. This is not so. They remain a central feature of welfare practice at both governmental and private levels. Our modern agencies prefer not to tell people they are unworthy but social workers can everywhere be heard saying ‘I'm sorry, but you are not eligible—you have not met our requirements.’ In this paper a series of propositions is put which if implemented would go a long way towards diminishing worthiness as a major factor in our social welfare system. Rather than support the introduction of these propositions by stressing their benefits, there is a concentration on description and analysis of aspects of existing practice which the propositions if implemented would negate.

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