Sometimes we seem to forget that in the design and implementation of public policy and reform we are attempting to improve our society, not just our economy.

While we may get the economics effectively right, we often fail to foresee and understand some of the longer-term consequences for our society.

There are many examples – consider a couple. In welfare reform there is considerable focus on the targeting of benefits. It is claimed to allocate to those most in genuine need, usually in the context of budget repair. Many argue we have created one of the most cost-effective, and effectively targeted, welfare systems in the world.

But we have lost sight of the fact that the level of many benefits, most conspicuously the unemployment benefit (Newstart) and the base pension, are now well below most estimates of the poverty line. Do we want to build a society where we consciously create an underclass, with all the consequential personal and community downside – a group of people who cannot hope to share in the life, ambitions and achievements of the rest of our society?