Foreword

It gives me considerable pleasure to launch this first edition of the Social Policy Journal.

In recent years New Zealand has seen major changes in social policy. New challenges have emerged from the economic, social and demographic environment; and Government and community policy and practices have had to change in order to respond to environmental change. While the scale and the speed of recent policy changes in New Zealand is particularly striking by developed country standards, it is also interconnected with patterns of related change elsewhere in the world. Given the pace of changes and the significance of their impacts for the day to day lives of ordinary people, it is not surprising that there is intense interest in social policy issues both in New Zealand and worldwide.

The Social Policy Journal has been set up to document and analyse the changes that are going on around us. The establishment of the Journal by the Social Policy Agency of the Department of Social Welfare is part of our contribution to developing the quality of social policy debate and advice. As such, the aim of the Journal is to attract high quality articles on social policy from New Zealand and international contributors.

While the Agency is taking the initiative, this is not an in-house journal. Rather the aim is to consider issues arising across the social policy scene, linking social policy research and policy development and delivery. We are aiming for a wide readership from people with a vital interest in social policy both in New Zealand and overseas.

The spread of contributions for the first edition of the Social Policy Journal reflects the range of issues which make up contemporary social policy. These include the spread of income based targeting into health sector services, benefit and pension policy, the rights of indigenous peoples (in New Zealand's case those of the Māori) and appropriate delivery of social services to them, sole parent policy and new approaches to crime prevention and the treatment of young offenders.

We hope all of our readers will find the Social Policy Journal to be a stimulating window on social policy issues, and that you will be encouraged to submit copy for future editions.

David A. Preston
General Manager
Social Policy Agency