The Australian Government is committed to progressively reforming the welfare and family assistance payment system to foster responsibility and to provide a platform for people to move up and out of welfare dependence.
Governments have a responsibility - particularly in relation to vulnerable and at risk citizens - to ensure income support payments are beneficial and contribute to individuals’ well-being. The Government believes that the first call on income support payments should be life essentials and the interests of children.
The aim is to ensure that income support and family assistance payments are spent on the essential needs of the individual and their children, including food, clothing, housing, medical attention and education, and that children are enrolled in and regularly attend school.
The Government has been progressively developing a national reform agenda in relation to welfare recipients in disadvantaged regions and dysfunctional families and communities which extends beyond the Indigenous policy domain. The Government has implemented the following measures:
Each measure uses a combination of different tools to achieve its goals, including income management or increased conditionality on the receipt of income support.
Income Management
Income Managementinvolves part of a person's government income support and family payments from Centrelink and/or the Department of Veterans' Affairs being managed by Centrelink to help pay for priority needs such as food, rent, clothing, medical attention and utilities. Income managed funds cannot be used to pay for alcohol, tobacco, pornography or gambling products. Income management is tailored on a case-by-case basis to ensure that the needs of children and families are met.
Income management does not change an individual's payment entitlements; it only changes the way they receive their payments.
From 1 July 2010, a new, non-discriminatory model of income management will replace the scheme now operating in NTER prescribed communities, subject to the passing of Legislation by Parliament. Over time, and drawing on evidence from the Northern Territory, it will be progressively rolled out in disadvantaged locations across Australia, to tackle the destructive, intergenerational cycle of passive welfare.