Introduction Brendon O'Connor is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the School at Social Work and Social Policy, University of Queensland. 200115298 ,- Brendon O'Connor THE INTELLECTUAL ORIGINS OF 'WELFARE DEPENDENCY' In November 1999 Senator Jocelyn Newman released a major discussion paper on the Federal Government's planned reform of the Australian welfare system. Central to the Government's concerns - and as indicated in the paper's title, 'The challenge of welfare dependency in the 21st century' - is the incidence of 'welfare dependency', which (the paper argues) is best combated by extending the strategy of 'mutual Thereis no way to overestimate the effect that Charles Murray's book Losing Ground had on the intellectual debate on poverty. Steven M. Teles (1996: 148) Gilder, far more than any careful and responsible social scientists, spoke to the interlaced economic, personal, and moral anxieties that fuelled conservatism's triumph in the era of Ronald Reagan, Michael B. Kac: (1989: 147) 'Welfare dependency' has become a key term in policy debate in the United States and, more recently. Australia. In this article I explore the intellectual origins of the tenn, looking specifically at the writings ofGeorge Gilder and Charles Murray. two commentators whose (often polemically presented) ideas were influential within the Reagan Administration and have been at the forefront of a conservative renewal in welfare debate generally. Although others have subsequently refined some of their arguments and proposals, the authors' central claim that welfare causes dependency and thus unemployment and poverty - and that welfare reform therefore needs to focus on changing the behaviour of welfare recipients rather than providing employment opportunities - has had a lasting political impact, in Australia as much as in the US. Brendon O'Connor.. Intellectual Origins of 'w'lfo" Dependency: 1221 Copyright of Full Text rests with the original copyright owner and, except as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, copying this copyright material is prohibited without the permission of the owner or its exclusive licensee or agent or by way of a licence from Copyright Agency Limited. For information about such licences contact Copyright Agency Limited on (02) 93947600 (Ph) nr (02) 93947601 (fax) I