Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Australian Politics and Policy
Alternatively, income management under the Cape York Welfare Reform
initiative 79 is delivered as one of multiple options (including referral to support
services) available to the Family Responsibilities Commission: a statutory authority
that undertakes restorative conferencing with welfare recipients who breach certain
social triggers. 80 Conferencing is undertaken by Indigenous community Elders
(sitting as ‘local commissioners’) and the decision about whether to apply income
management, including what percentage and for how long, is also made by the
Elders. This model was ‘opted into’ by the participating communities as part of the
broader Cape York Welfare Reform initiative.
In Ceduna and the East Kimberley, trials of the cashless welfare card (a different
form of income management) are ongoing, with recent trials implemented in the
Goldfields and East Kimberley regions of WA, as well as the most recent trial being
implemented in Bundaberg and Hervey Bay in Queensland from January 2019.
Under the cashless welfare card, individuals are not referred. Instead, up to 80 per
cent of an individual’s welfare income is automatically redirected to a debit card,
which can only be used to purchase approved items (i.e. not alcohol, gambling
products or for withdrawing cash).
Although the models differ in their design and administration, they all involve
behavioural objectives, which seek to coerce certain behaviours by restricting or
removingindividualchoiceoverexpenditure–aformofhardpaternalism.Inthis
way, welfare income is used as a lever for behavioural compliance with selected
social norms. Welfare conditionality of this nature is also supported by broader
discourses around welfare dependency and, thus, it is hoped that by increasing
conditionality, individuals will ultimately be incentivised away from long spells on
welfare.
This social policy focus raises challenging questions around the roles of
different players in social policy design and implementation. For instance, income
management in all areas (aside from Cape York) has been conceived of and
designed by the Commonwealth government. However, it co-opts state-level
bureaucracy in its implementation by requiring child safety workers, for instance,
to make client referrals to the scheme. Its operation therefore depends on the cooperation
and compliance of state government level public servants. The case study
of compulsory income management, like so many social policy examples illustrates
the complexity of federalism, particularly the degree to which co-operative or
competitive federalism is at play in the design and delivery of social policies.
The Cape York trial, which has been ongoing since 2008 and was designed and
implemented through a partnership between four Indigenous communities (with
a fifth community added later on), an Indigenous not-for-profit organisation, and
the Queensland and Commonwealth governments, also raises questions around
79 This initiative has been implemented in the Far-North Queensland communities of Aurukun,
Coen, Hope Vale, Mossman Gorge and most recently Doomadgee.
80 For example, not sending children to school or being convicted of a crime.
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