Subsidiarity, solidarity and challenges for faith-based social sector provision in Australia

As Forde rightly highlights, the Red Tory–Blue Labour reliance on the Catholic social teaching precept of subsidiarity as a basis for social sector reform is inadequate, ignoring the equally important emphasis on solidarity. The Red Tory–Blue Labour post-liberal reform direction mostly passed Australia by, but the solidarity–subsidiarity frame still has relevance for the future of faith-based welfare organizations in the country. The challenge for those organizations is to resist the temptation of the careless, contract state, instead pursuing the common good, and re-emphasizing their foundational values as a bulwark against a slow slide to secularization.