That was not so easy for the pre-existing age, unemployment, sickness and disability benefits. This measure was a welfare watershed in that people could alter their circumstances to make themselves eligible. That government thus sought to detach entitlement from reciprocal obligation and contemporary morality. A Maxim Institute report in 2010 documents that one of the Norman Kirk-led government’s aims in 1973 was to remove the “moral stigma” attached to single parents over the age of 16. One notable historical development was the establishment of the Domestic Purposes Benefit in 1973. Poverty of the spirit easily leads to poverty of the pocket.Ī Conversation with My Country does not trace the origins of welfare entitlement without any offsetting obligation.
It induces self-destructive lifestyle choices associated with obesity and excessive recourse to drugs and alcohol. It breeds negative feelings of grievance and entitlement. In assessing the core social problem, Duff writes that for three decades now it has been seemingly acceptable to be both welfare-dependent and entitled to be so “for as long as you choose.” Unnecessary long-term welfare dependency destroys motivation and spirituality. He concedes to flaws with considerable humility. In doing so, he reveals much about his (awful) early life experiences.
It is about what he thinks about the dysfunctional situations his novels portray so vividly. His latest book is part biography and part memoir. What the author thinks and why is only implied. In his novels, Duff uses fictional characters and powerful dialogue to portray the predicaments he has witnessed first-hand. In all, Duff has written 16 published books.
The 1996 sequel, What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? became a film of the same name in 1999. The power of that book established Duff’s skills as a writer and communicator. The 1994 movie of the book heightened its impact. His powerful 1990 novel Once Were Warriors alerted the public to the violence and dysfunction in some welfare-dependent Maori households. – takes a characteristically thoughtful and constructive look at the pockets of pathological behaviours our welfare state has nurtured for decades.ĭuff’s long-standing concern has been with the sub-world of entrenched, dysfunctional welfare dependency. Alan Duff’s latest book – A Conversation with My Country: Where we have come from.
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