Weighing up Australian values

There is now enormous pressure on time with average hours of work tending to increase. People in a sense lose control of managing time often resulting in great pressures on marriages and families. I argue that public policy needs to give much more consideration to the distribution of time across the life course and develop ways of assisting people to plan their time more effectively.

This is made very difficult in Australia as unlike most other developed countries we have little paid parental leave in the private sector and little sense of the need to create opportunities for people to vary the hours they spend in paid work. This issue is receiving much greater attention in Europe should be given more consideration in Australia, which has one of the highest rates of part time and casual work in the OECD.

The current emphasis on flexibility and mobility, on seeking to balance work, education, caring and civic responsibilities, can be applauded and many have embraced these opportunities enthusiastically. On the other hand, the demand for flexibility does not take into account the needs of people with disabilities or those caring for them. There is also a need to recognise family caring responsibilities not only for younger children but also for ageing parents where there is an increasing emphasis on the responsibility of individuals and less emphasis on the responsibilities of society.

Günter Schmid argues that in a more market driven and risk orientated society we will need to take seriously the ethical question as to where the balance between individual and social responsibility lies. Indeed this book argues that in the end issues of work life balance in contemporary Australian society are indeed ethical issues and points to the urgent need for new policy directions developed in the context of Weighing Up Australian Values.