YOUR SAYIs the Income Management Scheme a positive thing for NT communities? In early January the Income Management system was introduced to Centrelink clients in the Alice Springs town camps and surrounding outstations as a part of the Federal Government's intervention into the Northern Territory.
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I think that until people actually go and experience it for themselves they have no idea what is happening in these remote communities. Sure reporters seem to be visiting for a week or two but that is nothing to what the centrelink workers see when they are out in the remote communities. My husband is currently working in remote communities outside of alice and is receiving nothing but welcome and cooperation from the aboriginals. I think people are very ill informed about the whole situation. If a reporter wishes to bring their own children up the way they do in some of these communities, then i might listen. But i think you will find the abusive men are the ones opposing the intervention. We have had no protest from the aboriginal women whose children are being molested. I thini people need to experience it and get out there before they can comment on this issue. I believe many people would change their tune when they saw how it is out there.............I am for the intervention, strongly.
The NT intervention is one of the most shameful acts ever. Lord Downer let the cat out of the bag saying Howard was desperate last year and Mad Brough was the man to fix this. Aboriginal interests were not secondary. Great to see Bob Katter tell the real story. Rudd/macklin must be shamed into winding back the intervention. In Broome last June I saw homeless people in the sandhills right next door to top hotels. Can you do a story on these people plus Kununurra and Port Augusta.
It seems like a good idea but it isn't working in practice. Where is the consultation with the community? Why isn't there transport assistance to help people get to the shopping? And isn't the voucher scheme supporting big supermarkets that already have a monopoly????
If this is a revamp of voucher systems, I would say that in the long term it is bound to fail. Vouchers do not take into account the day to day adjustments parents have to make in response to the unexpected in providing for their offspring. As vouchers are tied to a rigid system and a beaurocracy, I'm not surprised they make life both hell and depriving for the recipients.
This is humiliating for people
In principle, it sounds like a good idea to ensure people get the necessary essentials to live. However, it seems unfair to implement the system when it is not ready to go and deny people basic needs. Stories of teething problems understandably don't instill much faith in the system.
This policy was brought forward by the Howard Government and refelcts the deep entrenched mindset of racism by intervention and introduction of institutionalised control.
I am unsure exactly how this will new policy will unfold, however, i guess at least the issue is in the Australian mainstream, rather than swept under the carpet as it has been for so many years.
The income management, known as quarantining in Central Australia, is a nightmare. Queueing for hours to find you have very little money or your gift cards have been delayed is only part of the logistical nightmare. Travelling 90kms to find you only have $30 doesn't give you enough fuel money to get back home. Inflicting this punitive measure on all the good people who look after their children and manage very is unfair and inhumane. The government would be better to spend the millions it is spending on Centrelink to provide budgetting and income management assistance to those people that need it. Stop the intervention!
As shown in the Living Black segment, clearly not working.