Time to abolish compulsory income management

The Aboriginal population in the Northern Territory has borne the brunt of government-mandated income management for too many years, writes Dr John Paterson.

It was income inequality and the fight for wage rights on Lord Vestey’s station that led to the Wave Hill walk off in 1966.  Forty years later, the contemporary version of income management appeared after its introduction as part of a suite of reforms of the NTER, or Intervention.

Almost 60 years after the Walk Off, the story remains the same: government doesn’t trust us with our money. Rather, racially discriminatory, unrelenting, costly and paternalistic income management interventions hold court while poverty and unemployment persist.

Aboriginal Peak Organisations Northern Territory (APO NT) is an alliance comprising the Central, Northern and Tiwi Land Councils, North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency, Northern Territory Indigenous Business Network, Aboriginal Housing Northern Territory and the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance of the NT, along with our associate member, the Anindilyakwa Land Council. We understand the critical issues that face Aboriginal people in the NT, and especially with regards to income management.

The combined membership and clients of our member organisations make up a significant portion of the Aboriginal population of the Northern Territory, and also constitute the overwhelming majority of people who have been affected by compulsory income management.

We know that compulsory income management does not work. We do know it continues to stigmatise and limit the future of Aboriginal people in the NT. We want to see it scrapped altogether.

Since its introduction, APO NT has advocated against the varied models of compulsory income management, including the Cashless Debit Card and the Basics Card. Given the policy reforms the Albanese Labor government took to the election in May of this year, we were confident that we could forge a new, courageous way forward, one that would respond to our consistent advocacy towards Aboriginal self-determination. 

In our most recent submission to the Senate Standing Committees on Community Affairs for the Social Security (Administration) Amendment (Repeal of Cashless Debit Card and Other Measures) Bill 2022, APO NT supported repealing the Cashless Debit Card and strongly encouraged the Australian Government to abolish all forms of compulsory income management, including the Basics Card. We support options for alternative voluntary income management programs if they are consistent with the rights and needs of Aboriginal people in the context of the Northern Territory and have been shown to work. 

But the evidence is in. Not only is compulsory income management ineffective in changing alcohol related harms, but it has also failed to have a positive impact on key indicators of health including birth weights. The scheme is discriminatory and paternalistic. It represents a top-down approach without Aboriginal leadership and does not consider distinct practical issues that occur when delivering programs in remote Aboriginal communities. Critically, compulsory income management fails to address underlying issues of poverty, especially for Aboriginal people living remotely. 

While we welcome the ending of the Cashless Debit Card, we are also disappointed that this will not apply to the NT, Doomadgee and Cape York in Queensland. In all other jurisdictions participants can opt-out of the Cashless Debit Card, or continue on income management if they choose. A right to agency denied those in the NT, Cape and Gulf. 

For the NT, participants will be transitioned to ‘enhanced’ income management on 6 March 2023. Enhanced income management is still compulsory income management. Of the 17,300 Cashless Debit Card recipients, 4,000 of them reside in the NT and of the 24,000 participants on the Basics Card, it is estimated that 20,000 are residing in the NT. There will be no fundamental changes to the Basics Card. What started as a promising first step to scrapping all forms of compulsory income management, seems only to be more of the same. 

Moreover, compulsory income management contradicts the Australian and NT governments’ commitments through the National Agreement on Closing the Gap which undertakes that: “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples must play an integral part in the making of the decisions that affect their lives – this is critical to closing the gap.”

But yet again, we are not heard, we are ignored. 

We know that the Minister of Social Services, Amanda Rishworth, has committed to consulting the affected communities regarding the future of income management in the NT and has announced additional funding for economic programs, alcohol and other drug services. Of course, this funding commitment is welcome – it is needed. But it is also important not to lose sight of the bigger picture of self-determination and economic opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia.  

Any new programs must have careful consideration and consultation with Aboriginal communities, participants, and organisations. Through our membership and our expertise, we know that jobs in remote communities in the NT are hard to come by. Government responses include compulsory income management and the Community Development Program (CDP). 

APO NT, along with an alliance of like-minded organisations and groups have, since 2017, been advocating for an alternative to CDP, through our  ‘Fair Work Strong Communities’ proposal. This model has been built from the ground up, here in the NT – it is custom made for our people and our communities. It’s a way forward that creates real jobs, proper conditions, with adequate training and skills and rebuilds local community decision-making. 

We recognise that it is a critical time now with the Australian Government developing its future agenda for employment in Australia. To address the issues that give rise to the need for income support and the political motivation for compulsory income management, job creation must be tackled.

The Australian government must not forget about Aboriginal people living in remote NT; it needs to work with us and prioritise our solutions, so that we have the economic opportunities we need to transform remote communities and the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in the NT.