Australia plans to overhaul a policy restricting how Outback Aborigines can spend their welfare checks that has been branded by some observers as racist.
The government introduced so-called “income management” into Aboriginal settlements in the Northern Territory three years ago as part of a package of radical measures aimed at tackling rampant sexual abuse of Aboriginal children.
The system aims to reduce alcohol and drug abuse by withholding part of Aborigines’ welfare checks so the money can only be spent on essentials such as food, clothing and rent.
Aborigines are the poorest ethnic group in Australia and many Aboriginal communities survive almost entirely on welfare.
The government wants to extend the spending restrictions to everyone — not just Aborigines — receiving welfare payments in Australia’s remote Northern Territory from July 1, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said yesterday.
The measures will “support and encourage families to make positive decisions about the critical things for their families like education, health and nutrition,” Rudd told parliament.
The UN special rapporteur on Aboriginal human rights, James Anaya, last year described welfare management as “demeaning” and incompatible with Australia’s obligations under Aboriginal and human rights conventions.
Irene Khan, secretary-general of the London-based human rights group Amnesty International, mirrored Anaya’s criticisms after visiting squalid Outback camps last year, saying such measures targeting Aborigines compromised human rights.
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