It is refreshing to find a sustained effort by academics who
seem to identify with a Marxist position analysing Australian society in the area of human services. One such person is Martin Mowbray. He has produced a series of
papers (1) over the last three or four years which persistently develop a central core of theory. Unfortunately, controversy developing around some of his ideas is threatening to become divisive. Some progressives[original wording is 'progressives'] are pushing for human services delivery to be devolved to local government level with user involvement in the services and their management. Others - following Mowbray - attack "localism" based on a "community", describing it as a way of cutting costs disguised as an unrealistic myth that legitimates continued central control.