National Insurance (Australia)

A series of contemporary cartoons depicting (1) the Lyons government's initial adoption of the scheme, (2) contemporary criticisms of the scheme, (3) conflict within the government over the scheme, and (4) the scheme's ultimate abandonment.

National Insurance was a planned system of social security in Australia which would have provided medical, disability, unemployment and pension coverage to its contributors and their dependents. The scheme was passed into law by the Lyons government as the National Health and Pensions Insurance Act 1938, but was abandoned the following year in order to divert funds to defence.^[1]

^ Thornton, Danielle; Bowman, Dina; Mallett, Shelley (2020). Safety net to poverty trap?: The twentieth-century origins of Australia's uneven social security system (PDF). Brotherhood of St Laurence. pp. 10–11.

[1] Thornton, Danielle; Bowman, Dina; Mallett, Shelley (2020). Safety net to poverty trap?: The twentieth-century origins of Australia's uneven social security system (PDF). Brotherhood of St Laurence. pp. 10–11.

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