Economist and Labor MP Daniel Mulino explains how the Australian welfare state was created - and what we need to do to protect and extend it The welfare state is one of the crowning achievements of the twentieth century, giving citizens access to healthcare, pensions, disability and unemployment benefits. This unprecedented expansion of the state was a product of the postwar period of the late 1940s, when governments ramped up investment in this grand safety net. By the 1970s, half of all government spending went towards social-welfare programs, but today the welfare state stands at a crossroads, beset by both political opposition and funding pressures as the population ages. Australian Labor Party MP Daniel Mulino provides a sweeping account of the history of welfare in Australia and abroad, from Bismarckian Germany to present-day Canberra. In this deeply researched and lucid account, Mulino looks to the challenges facing today's welfare state and reflects on what steps must be taken to protect and extend it. 'Knowledge and thoughtful analysis applied to crucial policy questions. Reassuring and inspiring after the federal election.' -Ross Garnaut 'A timely and comprehensive review of the history and future of the welfare state, and whether Australia's safety net is fit-for-purpose for the risks and challenges ahead' -Peter Dawkins, former vice-chancellor of Victoria University and former director of the Melbourne Institute 'A deep reflection on the contemporary management of social risk in democratic systems. This thoughtful and challenging book is essential reading for anyone concerned with the task of ensuring our social safety net is sustainable and adapted to the modern era.' -Emma Dawson, executive director of Per Capita 'Daniel Mulino chronicles in impressive, readable detail the global progress that societies have made in developing shock-absorbing social policies, and proposes further development in the footsteps of Australia's greatest social and economic reformers.' -Peter Harris, former chairman of the Australian Productivity Commission 'Social policies need to be shaped by policymakers as well as by scholars versed in economics and history. MP Daniel Mulino applies all these skills in fashioning this monumental work. It's all there: a complete set of practical experience-based recommendations for every kind of social insurance." -Professor Peter H. Lindert, University of California - Davis and author of Making Social Spending Work