Building a Friendly Society for Turbulent Times
Building a Friendly Society for Turbulent Times
We live in turbulent times. Healthcare costs are rising faster than wages. Trust in institutions is declining. Communities feel fractured, polarized, disconnected. The systems meant to support us—whether healthcare, aged care, or disability support—too often fail the people who need them most.
When you can't afford the gap fee at the GP. When specialist appointments are delayed because the out-of-pocket cost is too high. When you're choosing between medication and groceries. These aren't hypotheticals. This is Australia in 2025.
In these turbulent times, we need something different. Not another government program. Not another venture-backed startup promising to "disrupt" care. Something older. Something proven. Something built on solidarity, not extraction.
We need friendly societies.
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What Were Friendly Societies?
Before Medicare. Before the modern welfare state. Before private health insurance dominated the landscape. Australian communities took care of each other through friendly societies—member-owned organizations delivering mutual aid, savings, and security.
By 1914, over 50% of Australian men belonged to friendly societies. These weren't fringe movements. They were the social fabric of working communities.
What did they provide?
- Healthcare and medicine when you were sick
- Income support when you couldn't work
- Funeral benefits so families wouldn't face financial ruin
- Social connection through regular meetings and events
- Democratic governance where members had real voice
All owned and governed by members. No shareholders extracting profit. No distant executives making decisions. The people who used the services owned them, ran them, benefited from them. Friendly societies had a rich history of community support and collective well-being. They weren't perfect—many excluded women, and coverage was limited by the contributions members could afford. But they understood something we've forgotten: that we're stronger together than apart. That member ownership changes everything. That community support isn't a luxury—it's a necessity.
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Why Did They Fade?
As the welfare state grew—Medicare, pension systems, unemployment benefits—friendly societies seemed less necessary. Government could provide at scale what communities once provided locally. And for a time, it worked. But something was lost. The social element. The democratic participation. The sense that you weren't just a recipient of care, but an owner of the system that cared for you.
Today's "member-owned" organizations—superannuation funds, credit unions, some health funds—retain the ownership structure on paper. But they've become corporate. Distant. Transactional. You might technically own shares, but do you feel like an owner? Do you participate in governance? Do you know the other members? The ownership is there. The community is not.
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Why Friendly Societies Now?
Because the problems friendly societies addressed haven't gone away—they've gotten worse. Australia now has the third-highest out-of-pocket healthcare costs in the developed world. Only the United States and Switzerland are worse. Women and people with chronic conditions bear the brunt. Many Australians are delaying or skipping care they need because they can't afford it. This is what happens when profit comes before people. When shareholders demand returns. When the gap between what you pay and what you receive keeps widening.
But it's more than just healthcare costs. We're living through multiple, overlapping challenges that compound each other. Climate instability. Economic inequality. Social polarization. Declining trust in institutions. The erosion of community bonds. In turbulent and polarized times, mutual aid isn't just about healthcare.
It's about care, broadly defined. Financial security. Social support. Community resilience. The knowledge that you're not alone, that your community has your back. Friendly societies understood this. They weren't just insurance schemes.
They were social institutions. Places where people gathered, made decisions together, supported each other through life's challenges. The mutual aid and the social fabric were inseparable. That's what we've lost. And that's what we need to rebuild.
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What We're Building
YourCare is building a friendly society for our time. Member-owned communities delivering mutual aid, savings, and security. Not just ownership on paper—genuine community. Democratic participation. Real relationships. Care that goes beyond transactions. We're inspired by the friendly societies of the past, but we're not trying to recreate the 1800s. We're adapting proven principles for 21st century challenges:
Member Ownership That Matters
Using a structure inspired by Vanguard—members own the funds, funds collectively own the organization. No external shareholders. Savings and benefits flow back to members, not to investors. When you own it together, incentives align.
The Social Element Revived
Not just a fund you pay into. A community you belong to. Democratic governance where members have real voice. Connections with other members. Mutual support in practice, not just in theory.
Care, Broadly Defined
Healthcare, yes. But also financial security. Social support. Community resilience. The things we need to navigate turbulent times together.
Independence and Intention
No venture capital. No investors demanding growth at all costs. Building slowly, with intention, accountable to members rather than shareholders. Small and independent isn't weakness—it's strength. We're not promising to solve everything overnight. Friendly societies didn't eliminate poverty or cure all disease. But they made life more bearable, more secure, more connected. They gave people agency and community in systems that otherwise left them isolated and vulnerable.
That's what we're building toward.
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The Antidote We Need
In turbulent times, there's a tendency toward two extremes: either naive optimism that technology or markets will solve everything, or despair that nothing can change. Friendly societies offer a third way. Grounded in history, not fantasy.
Pragmatic about challenges, not blind to them. Built on human solidarity, not extraction or coercion. They might just be the antidote we need. An antidote to extraction—member ownership instead of shareholder profit. An antidote to isolation—community instead of transactions. An antidote to powerlessness—democratic governance instead of being "consumers" of services designed elsewhere. An antidote to polarization—mutual aid instead of every person for themselves. This isn't a magic solution. It's hard work. Building community always is. But it's work worth doing.
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A Chance to Embody Our Better Selves
Every society has a choice about what values to embody. Do we treat each other as competitors or as community? Do we extract from each other or support each other? Do we go it alone or build together? Friendly societies were an answer to those questions. They said: We belong to each other. We take care of each other. We build the systems we need, together. In turbulent and polarized times, maybe that's exactly the message we need to hear again.
Building a friendly society won't solve everything. But it's a start. A chance to embody our better selves. To build communities of solidarity when polarization feels overwhelming. To show that care—broadly defined—is possible when we own it together.
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Join Us
We're in the early stages. We're small. We're independent. We're building with intention, not speed. But we're building. If this resonates—if you believe that mutual aid, member ownership, and genuine community matter—we'd love to have you join us. Not as customers. As members. As co-owners. As community. Together, let's build a friendly society for our time.
Learn more and join: yourcare.org
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This is the first in a series of posts exploring what it means to build a
friendly society for the 21st century. We'll be sharing more about the
history of friendly societies in Australia, how member ownership works in
practice, and what care looks like when communities own it together.