Vol. 75/No. 40      November 7, 2011

The Labor federal government of Prime Minister Julia Gillard is planning to expand “income management” to Bankstown and four other working-class suburbs and towns with high unemployment across Australia in July 2012. It will target people judged by the government welfare agency Centrelink to be “vulnerable to financial crisis.”

Half of their payments will be made through “BasicsCards,” which can be used only for “essential” items at government-approved stores.

Income management was introduced in the Northern Territory in 2007 when the Liberal government of Prime Minister John Howard sent troops and cops to take over 73 Aboriginal communities. It was extended under Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as part of the continued intervention. Between 50 and 70 percent of benefits and pensions of Aborigines living in the 73 designated areas were “quarantined” onto the BasicsCard.

At the rally Barbara Shaw, an Aboriginal leader of the fight against the intervention in the Northern Territory, described her experience using the BasicsCard in Alice Springs. BasicsCard holders have to stand in a separate line. “If you don’t have enough on the card they refuse to serve you. That is very humiliating,” she said. “We have to keep campaigning, making sure our voices are heard.”

The protest was called by the coalition “Say No to Government’s Income Management, Not in Bankstown, Not Anywhere,” which is supported by more than 50 organizations, including unions, churches, Aboriginal and community groups.

“What people need is better access to transport and health services, not income management,” coalition spokesperson Margaret Goneis told the rally.

“This will rob people of their independence and self-respect. They want to control our lives,” said Carol Carter, a local Aboriginal elder.  
 
 
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