Katherine Curchin
Biographic Data
| ID | 270633 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Katherine Curchin |
| GIVEN NAMES | Katherine |
| FAMILY NAME | Curchin |
| SIGNATURE | CURCHIN K |
| AFFILIATIONS | Australian National University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2845-6838 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 44 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Paternalism in Australian parliamentary debate: The Case of Drug Testing Social Security Recipients
Across the globe, welfare conditionality and sanctioning increasingly permeate social welfare programs. Paternalism is one of the key normative rationales invoked when both scholars and politicians debate the legitimacy of this reform. With a view to bringing the scholarly and political debates into closer conversation with each other, this paper examines how paternalism manifests in political debate. We systematically analyse the paternalist arg…
Moral framings in the Australian parliamentary debate on drug testing of welfare recipients
Around the world an expanding array of behavioural conditions are being attached to social security payments. This paper offers empirical evidence of the various moral frames used in the welfare conditionality debate, by its supporters and detractors. We systematically analyse the debates in the Australian federal parliament in 2017 and 2018 on two bills attempting to introduce drug testing of working‐age welfare recipients, each of which resulte…
Examining Veterans' Interactions with the UK Social Security System through a Trauma-Informed Lens
This paper uses the principles of trauma-informed care - safety, collaboration, choice, trustworthiness, and respect - to reflect on the quality of veterans' treatment within the UK social security system. Drawing upon new data from qualitative longitudinal research with veterans in four geographical locations across England, UK, it explores their experiences within the social security system, highlighting specific issues relating to their intera…
Introduction to the Special Issue on Big Data and Social Policy in Australia
This Special Issue addresses the use of linked data for research purposes and to carry out government functions such as child protection, allocation of resources, and debt recovery. Government investment in big data has the potential to change citizens' experience of the welfare state in a broad range of areas in both positive and negative ways. It is therefore important that the Australian social policy community understands and engages with the…
Economic hybridity in remote Indigenous Australia as development alterity
While hegemonic development discourse continues to privilege industrial capitalism, Jon Altman has called for an open exploration of creative alternatives that better suit the values and aspirations of ‘kin-based societies’. Building on empirical evidence from decades of research with Indigenous peoples in northern Australia, he has proposed an innovative way to conceptualise regional economies that seeks to re-establish the potential importance …
The dilemma of rape avoidance advice: Acknowledging women's agency without blaming victims of sexual assault
The Illiberalism of Behavioural Conditionality: A Critique of Australia's 'No Jab, No Pay' Policy
Internationally the payment of welfare benefits is increasingly being made conditional on recipients' behaviour. Behavioural conditions and the payments to which they apply are diversifying. This article aims to contribute to the debate among scholars and policymakers over the ethics of welfare conditionality. While other assessments of the ethics of welfare conditionality have focused on the potential harm caused to vulnerable welfare recipients…
Testing the limits of the politics of recognition: Fox hunters in the United Kingdom
Research into the rights of minority groups to preserve their culture and identity has tended to focus on claims for cultural recognition made by indigenous peoples or other socio-economically disadvantaged groups. By contrast, this article examines the political appeals to culture and identity made by campaigners in the United Kingdom seeking to defend the sport of hunting with hounds in the lead up to the creation of the Hunting Act (2004). Opp…
The Neoliberal State, Recognition and Indigenous Rights
The impact of neoliberal governance on indigenous peoples in liberal settler states may be both enabling and constraining. This book is distinctive in drawing comparisons between three such states-Australia, Canada and New Zealand. In a series of empirically grounded, interpretive micro-studies, it draws out a shared policy coherence, but also exposes idiosyncrasies in the
Using Behavioural Insights to Argue for a Stronger Social Safety Net: Beyond Libertarian Paternalism
Insights from experimental research in the behavioural sciences offer a powerful impetus to reject the new paternalist approach to social policy. The findings from psychology, behavioural economics and behavioural finance, concerning decision-making by people experiencing poverty, point to the importance of alleviating material hardship by improving the social safety net, rather than trying to remedy the character of individuals through welfare c…
From the Moral Limits of Markets to the Moral Limits of Welfare
The political philosopher Michael Sandel (2012) has recently argued compellingly for more attention to the moral limits of markets, arguing that market values can crowd out other values we should care about. Meanwhile, conservative advocates for welfare reform, such as the Australian Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson, have raised concerns about the impact of long-term welfare receipt on community values. Pearson's argument about welfare can be artic…
Noel Pearson's Role in the Northern Territory Intervention: Radical Centrist or Polarising Partisan
Noel Pearson is one of Australia's most prominent and influential Aboriginal intellectuals. This article examines a major idea in his writing: the “quest for a radical centre”. Through the concept of the radical centre, Pearson articulates both his desire to transcend existing policy paradigms and an ethics of partisanship which emphasizes the importance of listening to and negotiating with one's political adversaries. Pearson's development of th…
Two visions of Indigenous economic development and cultural survival: The ‘real economy’ and the ‘hybrid economy
Noel Pearson and Jon Altman are two of the central intellectual figures in the contemporary debate on how to address the poverty and disadvantage of Indigenous Australians living in remote regions. This article compares their visions for Indigenous economic development. Pearson advocates greater integration of Indigenous people into what he calls the ‘real economy’, but Altman has produced an alternative approach to Indigenous development – the ‘…
Interrogating the hybrid economy approach to Indigenous development
In the contemporary debate about remote Indigenous economic development, Jon Altman's hybrid economy approach is the major alternative to the dominant neo‐liberal perspective. Altman's approach emphasises the continuing customary economic activity of remote‐living Indigenous Australians and their legitimate aspirations to live and work on their ancestral lands. Based on a close reading of Altman's writings, this paper analyses the hybrid economy …
Discursive Representation and Pearson's Quest for a Radical Centre
Noel Pearson is one of Australia's most prominent and influential Indigenous intellectuals. This article examines a major idea in Pearson's writing, the ‘quest for a radical centre’. It examines this idea from the perspective of both its usefulness in understanding the deficiencies in public conversation about Indigenous affairs, and its persuasiveness in legitimating the role that Pearson has played nationally as a champion of the Indigenous res…
Pākehā Women and Māori Protocol: The Politics of Criticising Other Cultures
Feminists have fiercely debated whether it is wrong for outsiders to criticise gendered customs and practices identified with cultural minorities. This article explores the ethics of criticising other cultures by analysing the reaction to public criticism of Māori ceremonial protocol by two Pākehā women. It argues that the response to outsiders' criticism does not depend in a simple and direct way on whether insiders have resisted the criticised …
Bureaucrats and Bleeding Hearts: Indigenous Health in Northern Australia by Tess Lea
Debate: Evading the Paradox of Universal Self‐Ownership
The Illiberalism of Behavioural Conditionality: A Critique of Australia's 'No Jab, No Pay' Policy
Internationally the payment of welfare benefits is increasingly being made conditional on recipients' behaviour. Behavioural conditions and the payments to which they apply are diversifying. This article aims to contribute to the debate among scholars and policymakers over the ethics of welfare conditionality. While other assessments of the ethics of welfare conditionality have focused on the potential harm caused to vulnerable welfare recipients…
Interrogating the hybrid economy approach to Indigenous development
In the contemporary debate about remote Indigenous economic development, Jon Altman's hybrid economy approach is the major alternative to the dominant neo‐liberal perspective. Altman's approach emphasises the continuing customary economic activity of remote‐living Indigenous Australians and their legitimate aspirations to live and work on their ancestral lands. Based on a close reading of Altman's writings, this paper analyses the hybrid economy …
The Neoliberal State, Recognition and Indigenous Rights
The impact of neoliberal governance on indigenous peoples in liberal settler states may be both enabling and constraining. This book is distinctive in drawing comparisons between three such states-Australia, Canada and New Zealand. In a series of empirically grounded, interpretive micro-studies, it draws out a shared policy coherence, but also exposes idiosyncrasies in the
Using Behavioural Insights to Argue for a Stronger Social Safety Net: Beyond Libertarian Paternalism
Insights from experimental research in the behavioural sciences offer a powerful impetus to reject the new paternalist approach to social policy. The findings from psychology, behavioural economics and behavioural finance, concerning decision-making by people experiencing poverty, point to the importance of alleviating material hardship by improving the social safety net, rather than trying to remedy the character of individuals through welfare c…
Debate: Evading the Paradox of Universal Self‐Ownership
Moral framings in the Australian parliamentary debate on drug testing of welfare recipients
Around the world an expanding array of behavioural conditions are being attached to social security payments. This paper offers empirical evidence of the various moral frames used in the welfare conditionality debate, by its supporters and detractors. We systematically analyse the debates in the Australian federal parliament in 2017 and 2018 on two bills attempting to introduce drug testing of working‐age welfare recipients, each of which resulte…
Two visions of Indigenous economic development and cultural survival: The ‘real economy’ and the ‘hybrid economy
Noel Pearson and Jon Altman are two of the central intellectual figures in the contemporary debate on how to address the poverty and disadvantage of Indigenous Australians living in remote regions. This article compares their visions for Indigenous economic development. Pearson advocates greater integration of Indigenous people into what he calls the ‘real economy’, but Altman has produced an alternative approach to Indigenous development – the ‘…
Examining Veterans' Interactions with the UK Social Security System through a Trauma-Informed Lens
This paper uses the principles of trauma-informed care - safety, collaboration, choice, trustworthiness, and respect - to reflect on the quality of veterans' treatment within the UK social security system. Drawing upon new data from qualitative longitudinal research with veterans in four geographical locations across England, UK, it explores their experiences within the social security system, highlighting specific issues relating to their intera…
From the Moral Limits of Markets to the Moral Limits of Welfare
The political philosopher Michael Sandel (2012) has recently argued compellingly for more attention to the moral limits of markets, arguing that market values can crowd out other values we should care about. Meanwhile, conservative advocates for welfare reform, such as the Australian Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson, have raised concerns about the impact of long-term welfare receipt on community values. Pearson's argument about welfare can be artic…
Pākehā Women and Māori Protocol: The Politics of Criticising Other Cultures
Feminists have fiercely debated whether it is wrong for outsiders to criticise gendered customs and practices identified with cultural minorities. This article explores the ethics of criticising other cultures by analysing the reaction to public criticism of Māori ceremonial protocol by two Pākehā women. It argues that the response to outsiders' criticism does not depend in a simple and direct way on whether insiders have resisted the criticised …
Testing the limits of the politics of recognition: Fox hunters in the United Kingdom
Research into the rights of minority groups to preserve their culture and identity has tended to focus on claims for cultural recognition made by indigenous peoples or other socio-economically disadvantaged groups. By contrast, this article examines the political appeals to culture and identity made by campaigners in the United Kingdom seeking to defend the sport of hunting with hounds in the lead up to the creation of the Hunting Act (2004). Opp…
Discursive Representation and Pearson's Quest for a Radical Centre
Noel Pearson is one of Australia's most prominent and influential Indigenous intellectuals. This article examines a major idea in Pearson's writing, the ‘quest for a radical centre’. It examines this idea from the perspective of both its usefulness in understanding the deficiencies in public conversation about Indigenous affairs, and its persuasiveness in legitimating the role that Pearson has played nationally as a champion of the Indigenous res…
Debate: Evading the Paradox of Universal Self‐Ownership
Bureaucrats and Bleeding Hearts: Indigenous Health in Northern Australia by Tess Lea
Pākehā Women and Māori Protocol: The Politics of Criticising Other Cultures
Feminists have fiercely debated whether it is wrong for outsiders to criticise gendered customs and practices identified with cultural minorities. This article explores the ethics of criticising other cultures by analysing the reaction to public criticism of Māori ceremonial protocol by two Pākehā women. It argues that the response to outsiders' criticism does not depend in a simple and direct way on whether insiders have resisted the criticised …
Interrogating the hybrid economy approach to Indigenous development
In the contemporary debate about remote Indigenous economic development, Jon Altman's hybrid economy approach is the major alternative to the dominant neo‐liberal perspective. Altman's approach emphasises the continuing customary economic activity of remote‐living Indigenous Australians and their legitimate aspirations to live and work on their ancestral lands. Based on a close reading of Altman's writings, this paper analyses the hybrid economy …
Discursive Representation and Pearson's Quest for a Radical Centre
Noel Pearson is one of Australia's most prominent and influential Indigenous intellectuals. This article examines a major idea in Pearson's writing, the ‘quest for a radical centre’. It examines this idea from the perspective of both its usefulness in understanding the deficiencies in public conversation about Indigenous affairs, and its persuasiveness in legitimating the role that Pearson has played nationally as a champion of the Indigenous res…
Noel Pearson's Role in the Northern Territory Intervention: Radical Centrist or Polarising Partisan
Noel Pearson is one of Australia's most prominent and influential Aboriginal intellectuals. This article examines a major idea in his writing: the “quest for a radical centre”. Through the concept of the radical centre, Pearson articulates both his desire to transcend existing policy paradigms and an ethics of partisanship which emphasizes the importance of listening to and negotiating with one's political adversaries. Pearson's development of th…
Two visions of Indigenous economic development and cultural survival: The ‘real economy’ and the ‘hybrid economy
Noel Pearson and Jon Altman are two of the central intellectual figures in the contemporary debate on how to address the poverty and disadvantage of Indigenous Australians living in remote regions. This article compares their visions for Indigenous economic development. Pearson advocates greater integration of Indigenous people into what he calls the ‘real economy’, but Altman has produced an alternative approach to Indigenous development – the ‘…
From the Moral Limits of Markets to the Moral Limits of Welfare
The political philosopher Michael Sandel (2012) has recently argued compellingly for more attention to the moral limits of markets, arguing that market values can crowd out other values we should care about. Meanwhile, conservative advocates for welfare reform, such as the Australian Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson, have raised concerns about the impact of long-term welfare receipt on community values. Pearson's argument about welfare can be artic…
Using Behavioural Insights to Argue for a Stronger Social Safety Net: Beyond Libertarian Paternalism
Insights from experimental research in the behavioural sciences offer a powerful impetus to reject the new paternalist approach to social policy. The findings from psychology, behavioural economics and behavioural finance, concerning decision-making by people experiencing poverty, point to the importance of alleviating material hardship by improving the social safety net, rather than trying to remedy the character of individuals through welfare c…
Testing the limits of the politics of recognition: Fox hunters in the United Kingdom
Research into the rights of minority groups to preserve their culture and identity has tended to focus on claims for cultural recognition made by indigenous peoples or other socio-economically disadvantaged groups. By contrast, this article examines the political appeals to culture and identity made by campaigners in the United Kingdom seeking to defend the sport of hunting with hounds in the lead up to the creation of the Hunting Act (2004). Opp…
The Neoliberal State, Recognition and Indigenous Rights
The impact of neoliberal governance on indigenous peoples in liberal settler states may be both enabling and constraining. This book is distinctive in drawing comparisons between three such states-Australia, Canada and New Zealand. In a series of empirically grounded, interpretive micro-studies, it draws out a shared policy coherence, but also exposes idiosyncrasies in the
Economic hybridity in remote Indigenous Australia as development alterity
While hegemonic development discourse continues to privilege industrial capitalism, Jon Altman has called for an open exploration of creative alternatives that better suit the values and aspirations of ‘kin-based societies’. Building on empirical evidence from decades of research with Indigenous peoples in northern Australia, he has proposed an innovative way to conceptualise regional economies that seeks to re-establish the potential importance …
The dilemma of rape avoidance advice: Acknowledging women's agency without blaming victims of sexual assault
The Illiberalism of Behavioural Conditionality: A Critique of Australia's 'No Jab, No Pay' Policy
Internationally the payment of welfare benefits is increasingly being made conditional on recipients' behaviour. Behavioural conditions and the payments to which they apply are diversifying. This article aims to contribute to the debate among scholars and policymakers over the ethics of welfare conditionality. While other assessments of the ethics of welfare conditionality have focused on the potential harm caused to vulnerable welfare recipients…
Introduction to the Special Issue on Big Data and Social Policy in Australia
This Special Issue addresses the use of linked data for research purposes and to carry out government functions such as child protection, allocation of resources, and debt recovery. Government investment in big data has the potential to change citizens' experience of the welfare state in a broad range of areas in both positive and negative ways. It is therefore important that the Australian social policy community understands and engages with the…
Moral framings in the Australian parliamentary debate on drug testing of welfare recipients
Around the world an expanding array of behavioural conditions are being attached to social security payments. This paper offers empirical evidence of the various moral frames used in the welfare conditionality debate, by its supporters and detractors. We systematically analyse the debates in the Australian federal parliament in 2017 and 2018 on two bills attempting to introduce drug testing of working‐age welfare recipients, each of which resulte…
Examining Veterans' Interactions with the UK Social Security System through a Trauma-Informed Lens
This paper uses the principles of trauma-informed care - safety, collaboration, choice, trustworthiness, and respect - to reflect on the quality of veterans' treatment within the UK social security system. Drawing upon new data from qualitative longitudinal research with veterans in four geographical locations across England, UK, it explores their experiences within the social security system, highlighting specific issues relating to their intera…
Paternalism in Australian parliamentary debate: The Case of Drug Testing Social Security Recipients
Across the globe, welfare conditionality and sanctioning increasingly permeate social welfare programs. Paternalism is one of the key normative rationales invoked when both scholars and politicians debate the legitimacy of this reform. With a view to bringing the scholarly and political debates into closer conversation with each other, this paper examines how paternalism manifests in political debate. We systematically analyse the paternalist arg…
Political science (17 works) · Law (16 works) · Sociology (16 works) · Politics (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Indigenous (7 works) · Economics (6 works) · Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights (5 works) · Psychology (5 works) · Conditionality (4 works)