{{short description|Australian sociologist and social policy adviser}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Use Australian English|date=December 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Bettina Cass | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=AUS|AO|FASSA|size=100}} | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1940}} | birth_place = Waverley, New South Wales, Australia | alma_mater = University of New South Wales }}
'''Bettina Cass''' {{post-nominals|country=AUS|AO|FASSA}} (born 1940) is an Australian sociologist and social policy adviser. As of 2020, she is emeritus professor at both the University of New South Wales and the University of Sydney.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Staff Profile: Emeritus Professor Bettina Cass|url=https://www.sydney.edu.au/arts/about/our-people/academic-staff/bettina-cass.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807125016/https://www.sydney.edu.au/arts/about/our-people/academic-staff/bettina-cass.html |archive-date=7 August 2020 |access-date=2020-12-10|website=The University of Sydney|language=en-AU}}</ref> After retirement, she continued to coordinate the Higher Research Degree programme at the Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=Emeritus Professor Bettina Cass |url=https://research.unsw.edu.au/people/emeritus-professor-bettina-cass |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=2022-07-13 |website=UNSW Sydney |language=en}}</ref>
Bettina Cass was born in Waverley, New South Wales, Australia, in 1940.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Cass |first1=Bettina |title=Bettina Cass interviewed by Nikki Henningham in the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia collection |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/32571611 |publication-date=2006 |access-date=11 December 2020 |last2=Henningham |first2=Nicola}}</ref>
Cass was elected Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia in 1989.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Academy Fellow: Emeritus Professor Bettina Cass FASSA|url=https://socialsciences.org.au/academy-fellow/?sId=0032v000033l9NgAAI|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191211034850/https://socialsciences.org.au/academy-fellow/?sId=0032v000033l9NgAAI |archive-date=11 December 2019 |access-date=2020-12-10|website=Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia|language=en-AU}}</ref> She was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia in the 1990 Australia Day Honours for "service to social security policy and women's affairs".<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Professor Bettina Cass|url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/872653|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201011150359/https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/872653 |archive-date=11 October 2020 |access-date=2020-12-11|website=It's An Honour}}</ref>
Cass was married to Dr Cecil Cass, with whom she had four children.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2004-10-22 |title=Fine doctor left a lasting legacy |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/fine-doctor-left-a-lasting-legacy-20041022-gdjyr9.html |access-date=2022-03-29 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en}}</ref> Her daughter, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, was appointed chair of the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission in March 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Butler |first=Ben |date=2022-03-25 |title=The power of one: Gina Cass-Gottlieb on becoming the first woman to lead the ACCC |url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/26/the-power-of-one-gina-cass-gottlieb-on-becoming-the-first-woman-to-lead-the-accc |access-date=2022-03-29 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref>
== The Cass Review == The major contribution of Cass to policy was the Social Security Review, instigated by Social Security Minister Brian Howe, which she directed from 1986 to 1988. The Review was a model for many that came after it. It performed a wide ranging consultation and produced six background papers and a final report. The Review led to major changes in Australian social security programmes and operations, most of which have continued to the present. It made recommendations on family income support, sole parent family policy, unemployment policies, income support for illness and disability, and retirement incomes policy. Substantial revisions of programmes were undertaken by 1994, to which the review wholly or partially contributed.
Longer term effects of the Review included:
* linking of unemployment benefits to work assistance measures such as training and job placement assistance; * guaranteed indexation of most payments to cost of living increases; * ongoing monitoring and evaluation of programme outcomes, including a major evaluation every three to five years; and * removal of gender-related eligibility for various payments. The main changes to individual payments were:
* (1989) replacement of unemployment benefits with Jobsearch for under 17s, and Newstart for those unemployed for 12 months or more. and a far greater emphasis on work search efforts and requirements.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Yeend |first=Peter |date=2000 |title=Welfare review |url=https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/Publications_Archive/archive/welfarebrief |access-date=2022-07-13 |website=Parliament of Australia |language=en-AU}}</ref>
== Selected publications ==
* {{Citation|last1=Cass|first1=Bettina|title=Why so few?: women academics in Australian universities|volume=|pages=|date=1983|publisher=Sydney University Press|isbn=978-0-424-00095-4|last2=Dawson|first2=Madge|last3=Temple|first3=Diana|last4=Willis|first4=Sue|last5=Winkler|first5=Anne}} *{{Citation|last=Cass|first=Bettina|title=Poverty and children: The effects of the recession 1974–1983|volume=|pages=|date=1983|publisher=Social Welfare Research Centre, University of New South Wales}} *{{Citation|first=|title=Women, social welfare and the State in Australia|volume=|pages=|date=1983|editor-last=Baldock|editor-first=Cora V.|edition=Rev.|publisher=Allen & Unwin|isbn=978-0-86861-158-7|editor2-last=Cass|editor2-first=Bettina|editor-link1=Cora Baldock}} *{{Citation|author1=Cass, Bettina|title=Income support for the unemployed in Australia : towards a more active system|date=1988|publisher=Australian Government Publishing Service|isbn=978-0-644-05390-7|author2=Social Security Review (Australia)}} *{{Citation|last1=Cass|first1=Bettina|title=Social justice and the life course: Work, social participation and the distribution of income|volume=|pages=|date=1995|publisher=Australian Catholic Social Welfare Commission|last2=Cappo|first2=David|author2link=David Cappo}} *{{Citation|title=Contesting the Australian way: States, markets and civil society|volume=|pages=|date=1998|editor-last=Smyth|editor-first=Paul|editor-link1=Paul Smyth (academic) |publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-63306-2|editor2-last=Cass|editor2-first=Bettina}} *{{Citation|last1=Cass|first1=Bettina|title=Divided work divided society: Employment, unemployment and the distribution of income in 1990s Australia|volume=|pages=|date=1998|publisher=University of Sydney, Research Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences|isbn=978-0-9585973-0-2|last2=Couch|first2=Rowanne}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{Australian Women and Leadership|WLE0466b|Cass, Bettina}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cass, Bettina}} Category:1940 births Category:Living people Category:Academic staff of the University of New South Wales Category:Academic staff of the University of Sydney Category:Officers of the Order of Australia Category:Fellows of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia