Philip Mendes is an associate professor and the director of the Social Inclusion and Social Policy Research Unit in the Department of Social Work, Faculty of Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne. He has been a social work and social policy practitioner and educator for 30 years, with particular experience in the fields of income security, young people leaving out-of-home care, social workers and policy practice, and illicit drugs. He has authored more than 100 publications in local and international peer-reviewed journals and is the author or co-author of ten books, including the first two editions of Australia’s welfare wars (2003, 2008), Harm minimisation: zero tolerance and beyond; the politics of illicit drugs in Australia (2004), Inside the welfare lobby: a history of the Australian Council of Social Service (2006), Young people leaving state out-of-home care: Australian policy and practice (2011) and Young people transitioning from out-of-home care: international research, policy and practice (2016).