• Ken Henry
• Treasury

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05 October 2009There is an important trade-off for contemporary policy-makers between workforce participation and the valuable role that parents and carers play in developing the capabilities of our children, the head of Treasury argues in this paper. Poorly designed policies may create perverse incentives that affect their capabilities and those of their children.

The paper examines the difficult task for all governments in identifying and then meeting the needs of children who are in vulnerable or disadvantaged circumstances. Here, it is especially important to ensure that the tax / transfer and services systems complement one another. Furthermore, if services are to be successful they need to be flexible, multi-faceted, ‘owned’ and valued by the families who need them most. And they need to work in partnership with communities.

The paper also argues that cost-effective investments to build the capabilities of our children and youth represent the best form of prevention. Investments in the capabilities of our children have large pay-offs. They allow children the freedom and opportunity to choose lives of value; and those choices, in turn, are critical, indeed fundamental, to Australia’s future prosperity.

This paper was presented at the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth’s 2009 conference, Making Prevention Work.