SMOKE AND MIRRORS

By Mickey Skidmore, AMHSW, ACSW, FAASW

Recently, some of my MSWQ students have suggested that I may not be bullish on the Social Work profession in Australia. I guess they find it striking when I point out that nearly any system in Australia (pick one): family, health, mental health, education, child protection, corrections/law enforcement, aged care, NDIS, refugees/migrants, religion, community services etc is either broken, corrupt, mismanaged, under-resourced or dysfunctional in some way. Given this reality, I challenge them about why they want to be a Social Worker? Knowing this, or essentially acknowledging this, why do they want to do this work? It is hard … it is difficult … it is sometimes overwhelming … and it is not for everyone.

My intention for this brutal and honest realism is to challenge the student’s motivation for this career path. Far too often I continue to hear stories of students buying the snake oil from fast talking hustlers that has sold them a myth: Social Work is your ticket. It’s a two-year program — just bide your time; keep your head down, don’t make waves, shake your head, go through the motions — then bam! In two years you have a recognised qualification as a spring board to your Permanent Residency (PR) in Australia. And then, the find themselves in an accredited MSWQ program and it hits them. OMG! This Social Work stuff is serious! … real! … brutal!

So, just to be clear. I am not interested in making any judgments regarding the personal calculus of why anyone chooses to leave their country to come to Australia. Likewise, I have no desire to squelch anyone’s genuine passion for any chosen career path. However, I do want students be clear about their own values and motivations for doing this work, as it is not everyone’s cup of tea.

I’ve also had students convey that they wished someone had shared some of these realities earlier in the program rather than towards the end. Now whenever possible, I make an effort to emphasise these issues as early in the process as possible. Given the obscene tuition fees that  are imposed on international students, it seems like a radically ethical thing to do.

I feel like I’m generally on solid ground regarding my professional (teaching) experiences to address these issues. However, I also have numerous stories from my private practice clients that underscore a corrosive and toxic work culture throughout most of Australian society as well. Following a moral autopsy of sorts following the recent political election it would seem that there is an abundance of smoke and mirrors within Australian society that underscores the dysfunctional fabric of work culture and economy.

Over the last 10+ years the lack of conviction of both of the major political parties reflect that they have essentially waved the white flag on achieving budget surpluses any time soon. While my expertise is in the field of Clinical Social Work and not economics, I am aware that GDP per capita has declined for seven consecutive quarters as high inflation eroded Australian living standards. There is almost no likelihood to undertake any genuine reform of Australia’s structurally flawed, economically damaging taxation system.

Politically, there have been broken promises on energy prices; the government has nationalised a failed airline and pumped money into failed steelworks; and plans to tax unrealised gains on superannuation balances of more than $3 million. On housing (often a vexing and convoluted Social Work issue as well) politicians have resorted to demand-driven gimmicks rather than bolder supply-side reform. There has been political mud-slinging with evidence-free crusades against insurance companies; Bunnings and supermarket chains for the perceived abuse of their market power during a cost-of-living crisis which has only served to ensure political estrangement from big business.

Australia’s parlous economic state, lagging business investment, slumping productivity, entrenched budget deficits and expanding public debt suggest there are numerous broken structures beyond the Social Work systems mentioned earlier. The result of this glaring dysfunction has resulted in an insidious entitlement culture, where emergency support has morphed into an expectation and standing order on the public purse to shield people from every financial burden.

And then of course there is the wishful thinking of an unrealistic nuclear power pipe dream that only reinforces the notion that Australia’s wealth resources has underwritten a complacent entitlement culture that typically Labor feeds and the that the Coalition is too timid or powerless to resist.

My own experience as an international educator has led me to realise over the last decade that there is no perfect place on earth. Every place, every culture, every people has their own beauty as well as strengths and weaknesses. And every nation deserves the right to determine how they will structure and organise their society. Whatever shapes or forms these systems may take, I believe there will be a role for the Social Work profession to advocate for the marginalised and disenfranchised wherever that may be. And I hope to genuinely and realistically prepare students for being as prepared as possible for this endeavour in their Social Work practice.