The termination of Medibank

Abstract

During the economic recession of the 1970s, ‘big government’ came under serious attack in many Western industrial nations. The task of cutting back the size and the role of the public sector, however, is thought to be very difficult if not impossible. This is particularly so if the cutbacks involve the elimination of particular programs, rather than decremental, across‐the‐board funding reductions. Yet, in Australia, the Fraser government succeeded in terminating Medibank, a major social program which it had previously promised to maintain. The relative ease with which this dismantling was achieved suggests the need for a re‐examination of the policy termination literature.