On July 1st this year the federal government plans to expand income management (which has been imposed on Aboriginal people in the NT for the past 4 years)into 5 new locations: Bankstown in New South Wales, Logan and Rockhampton in Queensland, Playford in South Australia and Shepparton in Victoria.
Under this "trial", anyone assessed by Centrelink to be “vulnerable to financial crisis” will have half of their payment quarantined. Parents and legal guardians referred to Centrelink by child protection authorities will have 70% of their income compulsorily quarantined.
Like under the disastrous NT intervention, Centrelink will issue a ‘BasicsCard’ to people who have had their payments quarantined. This card may only be used to purchase priority items e.g. food, clothing and utilities from government approved outlets such as Woolworths, Coles, Target, Kmart, Best and Less and Big W.
The government estimates that 20,000 people will fall under income management in the five locations over the next five years. This is around 1,000 persons per location each year.
Income management was first rolled out as part of the racist intervention in the Northern Territory in 2007. Aboriginal communities have experienced almost five years of hardship and shame as a result of this and related policies.
Income management in the Northern Territory has been widely criticised, both locally and internationally as it stigmatises and humiliates welfare recipients, wastes money on bureaucratic administration and discriminates specifically against Aboriginal people. In the NT, income management costs approximately $4,400 per person per year in administration alone. There is no evidence base to support the expansion of the system.
Yet politicians claim that income management has already proven effective in trial locations in Perth and the Kimberley in Western Australia, Cape York in Queensland and throughout the Northern Territory. They maintain that the quarantining is designed to make sure that welfare payments are spent in the best interest of children, rather than tobacco, alcohol and gambling.
But independent research conducted by the Menzies School of Health, Darwin, has found that income management has had no beneficial effect on tobacco and cigarette sales, soft drink or fruit and vegetable sales. A recent report by the Equality Rights Alliance surveyed 180 women on income management in the NT. It found that 79% wanted to exit the system, 85% had not changed what they buy and 74% felt discriminated against.
A report released by the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association (AIDA) concludes that compulsory income management in the NT has profoundly long-term negative impacts on psychological health, social health and wellbeing and cultural integrity (March 2010).
International research suggests welfare reforms that utilise sanctions such as the income management system place additional stresses on families with young children and have the potential to increase family breakdown and child abuse.
Income management has already been found to be an expensive and administration-intensive approach with no evidence to suggest that it delivers outcomes that justify its complexity or cost. The expansion must be stopped and all those on income management in the NT should be given immediate freedom to leave the system.
A strong new coalition has formed in Bankstown, a suburb of south-western Sydney. The campaign has initiated a call for a national moratorium on Income Management – demanding immediate amnesty for those already on the system and a halt to plans for expansion. Its founding statement has been endorsed by more than 50 organisations including trade unions, church and community groups.
Join STICS and Bankstown residents for a speakout at midday on Friday 27th April at the office of Jason Clare - 400 Chapel Rd. Bankstown http://g.co/maps/64yfd
For more information call Alex on 0449 184 801
www.stoptheintervention.org
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/333817633347001/