The invention of the term 'dole bludger' in 1974 marks a pivotal point in Australian welfare state history.
This shift has not been noted by any of the studies that pay attention to the emergence of the dole bludger. While Philip Mendes has correctly identified the dole bludger as existing alongside the neo-liberal push that occurred in the early-to-mid 1970s, further work needs to be done to provide a detailed analysis of the relationship between the two phenomena.
The term 'dole bludger' is unique to Australia and New Zealand.
While the Australian National Dictionary traces the term 'dole bludger' back to an article in Australian Consolidated Press' The Bulletin in 1976, the first use of 'bludger' to describe an unemployment benefit recipient extends back to 1973, when South Australian Liberal Party parliamentarian Bert Kelly spoke of citizens paying extra taxes to fund bludgers on unemployment benefits.
Before this, persons in receipt of the dole were referred to variously as 'shirkers', 'idlers', 'cheats', 'job dodgers' and 'swindlers', and these terms were applied throughout the 1970s, but the term 'dole bludger' as this article will show, emerged due to very specific circumstances present in 1974.
(20) The invention of the 'dole bludger' reflected a moment of transition during which a New Right network began disarticulating previous truths and reforming their elements into new ones.
Whilst the judges acknowledged the quality and freshness of all eligible contributions, they were agreed that the Gollan Prize for 2011 should be awarded to Verity Archer for '
Dole Bludgers, Tax Payers and the New Right: Constructing Discourses of Welfare in 1970s Australia' (Labour History, no.
Blaming the unemployed for being unskilled or lacking flexibility or adaptability, or simply for being
dole bludgers, presents an easier option.