“Social policy” is a term I am sure some of you have heard about. If you haven’t, I hope to fill you in a tiny bit in this BLOG and share some of what I am learning – and concluding. In Australia social policy is a very broad field of activity within which many players are advocating, agitating, influencing and lobbying in order to achieve or shape some kind of change in our society – how it is run and what its values are. Social change comprises many issues and ideas. There are many voices, values and opinions making a lot of noise competing in the field of social policy development at any given time.
At its very best, social policy aims to promote societal well-being through government programs and interventions in all sorts of areas like health, education, housing, and social welfare. Some areas of social policy seek to address issues of distributive justice by influencing who receives what resources and support. Key areas here include social security, family and community services, and health reform, encompassing policies like Medicare and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Other areas of social policy change, for better or for worse, involve human rights and gender specific issues. Perhaps, one of the greatest social policy changes ever in modern history that took decades of advocacy to achieve, was the abolition of slavery in Britain in 1833. The Slavery Abolition Act abolished slavery in most British colonies, freeing more than 800,000 enslaved Africans in the Caribbean and South. It took another 32 years before the United States would do the same in 1865 following their civil war.
Social policy develops in several ways and can take time to come to fruition but, in some cases, it can be very swift indeed. And, as I do the research, it seems to me that social policy development moves fastest when there is a state of flux in society. A “state of flux” describes a situation that is in a condition of continuous change, instability, or uncertainty, where the outcome is not yet clear. It often occurs during or after a significant event (i.e. COVID lockdowns, a natural disaster, a war etc.) where things are still in transition before they settle into a new direction or pattern – or the “new normal”, as we like to say. So, three key factors that contribute to a “state of flux”: continuous change - things are constantly changing rather than being stable. Uncertainty: the future is not yet clearly defined, or settled, and there is a lack of a clear or stable outcome. A transition period: this is a temporary phase of movement from one state to another.
This state of flux is often a highly volatile time where fears, lack of information and knowledge of the facts, is exploited and where uncertainty is leveraged by the loudest voices as they push their ideologies. In addition, those with power wield influence in the flux period in such a way as to stifle debate or dissent. Who can forget the daily COVID briefings where we were told the reason for the lockdowns and draconian new laws were because “we have to trust the science” for “our own good”. Of course, we found out later that “the science” was pure conjecture – the former Chief Health Officer, admitted so, last month.
Other shifts take place in our society which are not nearly as traumatic as the COVID pandemic. They’re more gradual but the factors of continuous change, uncertainty and transition are still in play, but are exploited differently. The tactic here for key influencers is maintaining momentum, or the pressure of influence. Remember “global warming” and the catastrophic forecasts of drought, weather extremes and even the extinction of species and so on? When global warming was discovered to not be the catastrophic thing many pundits were predicting the momentum for climate ideologies had to be maintained. And so, there was a switch in terminology, to “climate change”. It was a deceptive trick to maintain momentum in the social policy arena with the same flawed agenda. There are many, many examples of this.
Within a state of flux populations are often conditioned by academic elites and so-called experts to accept social policy changes by exploiting fear and maintaining their momentum. And “policy”, (the way we think things should be done now that all the discussions and enquiries have been conducted) soon becomes the new societal setting or protocol. And it is enforced by legislation or bureaucratic edict. Sometimes new legislation – which can sometimes be intentionally vague or ambiguous, or straight-out political manoeuvring – can be at odds with a government’s own real policy “guidelines”. Take for example the current state government’s new criminal sentencing laws. Our premier has been at pains to inform us that new “maximum” sentences for violent crimes are being legislated – no mention of “minimum” sentences (which is where the rubber really hits the road), just “maximum” sentences which will likely never be imposed. And our bureaucracy still has in place the very same sentencing advisory (“guidelines”) as before directing judges and magistrates as to what they can and cannot do – regardless of the legislation. In other words, despite all the hoo-ha nothing has actually changed – maximum noise about maximum nothing, with the current social policy remaining exactly the same. This is social policy deception.
But, I digress …
We are living in a time of great flux in our state and nation. There is great uncertainty, a lack of confidence in governments and institutions, the judiciary, education and so on. The flux is maintained by weak parliamentary oppositions, and a woke, activist media that has forgotten its fourth estate journalistic mandate – keeping government accountable. In this state of flux many voices are right now seeking to influence social policy settings – a lot of it not good. A raft of legislation has been pushed through our state parliament this year concerning Voluntary Assisted Dying among other things, and there is much more coming, and a lot of it aimed at curtailing the influence of the Christian voice and Judeo-Christian values. On top of the actual legislated social policies of the state are other social policies which have been encoded in all manner or “advisories” and “guidelines” such as the Mature Minors Decision Making guidelines for school teachers and principals. These are social policies created by and enforced by unelected bureaucrats that have the same force as laws – in practice, at least. And no one can effectively challenge them!
So, what does all this mean for Christians? In this state of flux we simply must express our views with passion, intelligent clarity and grace. While there remains a state of flux there remains opportunity for influence – for better or for worse. Just recently, only a handful of pastors working with the Australian Christian Lobby have been able to influence changes to the VAD – the legislation, which passed the lower house last week, it is still not good, but not as bad as it could have been. Christians – particularly Christian leaders – simply MUST make the time for intelligent engagement in social policy debate forums to bring influence for good. There is a vast multitude of voices agitating for bad. If they have their way in this state of flux where their ideologies are not challenged, those voices set the agenda for the new normal we all have to live with.
May I encourage you to become very well informed about the critical agendas in social policy that are brewing right now. Things, such as, threats to freedom of speech which is being censored in various ways by government; various government “enquiries” into cults and fringe groups; the agenda for the government to introduce vicarious responsibility legislation aimed primarily at churches and Christian groups and so on. Two good places to start are the Australian Christian Lobby website, and the Institute for Public Affairs. Get informed. Speak up. We are in a state of flux where anti-Christ influences are stirring the
uncertainty with all kinds of tactics. And INTERCEDE as if your way of life depended on it – because it does.
Talk to me any time about these issues. Now is NOT the time to remain silent.
Ps Milton