...Australian historian William Hancock has summarized this tradition as it is manifested in popular attitudes: "Australian democracy has come to look upon the State...provide the greatest happiness for the greatest number." Four factors have been important in the formation of the Australian egalitarian tradition: the relatively...

...and 'colonial socialism' in early Australia. Hancock's central thesis regarding the state was that: Australian democracy has come to look upon the State as a vast public utility, whose duty is to provide the greatest happiness to the greatest number .... To the Australian, the State means...

...Therefore he sees no opposition between his individualism and his reliance upon Government . . . [for] he has come to look upon the State as a vast public utility, whose duty is to provide the greatest happiness for the greatest number' (Hancock, 1930, p. 55). He went on to...

...resolve problems and disputes, not to preserve individual liberty. In Hancocks (1930:69) famous words: 'Australian democracy has come to look upon the state...provide the greatest happiness for the greatest number'. Examples include the extensive use of the law to regulate society and ensure proper social conduct,...

...came closest to realisation in the Australian context. As Hancock writes, with an echo of Bentham: 'Australian democracy, has come to look upon the State...provide the greatest happiness for the greatest number'. The Enlightenment's ideal of a state which could deal with the individual citizen without the interference...

...citizenship seems to be exercised by some people only because it is compulsory. Hancock observed that 'Australian democracy has come to look upon the State...provide the greatest happiness for the greatest number'. 3 Has the state met those expectations in the discharge of its duties? It is true that in the early...

...individuals freed from the constraints of the Old World, they pressed their demands upon government so that 'Australian democracy has come to look upon the State...provide the greatest happiness for the greatest number'. They established a White Australia, they built tariff walls to protect local industries, they regulated...

...Hancock argued, was one of individualism underwritten by the state. "Australian democracy," he concluded, "has come to look upon the State as a vast public...provide the greatest happiness for the greatest number" (Hancock 1930: 72). Australians, for the most part, accepted a form of "social liberalism" (Brett 1996)...

...the Lockean view of culture that took root in North America. In Hancock's famous words (1930: 69): 'Australian democracy has come to look upon the state as a vast public utility, whose duty is to provide the greatest happiness for the greatest number.' Political culture explains the origins...

...orientation (Collins 1985). Keith Hancock (1930: 69) famously characterized the situation as follows: 'Australian democracy has come to look upon the state...provide the greatest happiness for the greatest number.' Examples of this utilitarian outlook include the extensive use of the law to regulate society and to...