Ideas@TheCentre
Macklin shows her steel
The front pages of our newspapers have been plastered with the ETS and the internal ructions of the Liberal party all week, so you could be forgiven if you didn’t notice the Rudd Government’s announcement of arguably the most significant social policy reform of its time in office.
Income management, which quarantines part of a welfare recipient’s pay packet for food and other essentials, will be extended to communities with high levels of welfare dependence around Australia.
The policy was originally introduced by the Howard government as part of its emergency intervention in remote Northern Territory Indigenous communities.
Welfare advocates hated it, but more than that, they charged that it was racially discriminatory.
Scrapping the policy altogether would have won praise for the government from social justice campaigners. But Families Minister Jenny Macklin instead pledged to overcome the accusations of racism by extending it to non-Indigenous communities.
Income management is the type of paternalistic intervention which is hated by the welfare lobby, and the left in general. It also poses a real dilemma for liberals, who instinctively resist paternalism and remain sceptical that government micromanagement can solve a problem that was created by governments in the first place.
But pragmatists on both sides of politics recognise that something must be done to address long-term welfare dependence and the community dysfunction that often goes with it. Income management has already proven to be a valuable tool, leading to more money being spent on food and other essentials in remote NT communities.
By shrewdly announcing her government’s significant extension of income management while most of the parliamentary press gallery was focused on the heated climate change debate and the fortunes of the Opposition Leader, Macklin has deflected some of the inevitable backlash.
However, the vultures are already beginning to descend. The Greens call it the ‘worst Labor social policy ever.’ Other church and charity groups are equally scathing.
But while the extension of income management will clearly alienate sections of Labor’s core support base, it represents a big step forward for sensible welfare reform. If Macklin can hold her nerve it will be a real victory for good policy over politics.
Jessica Brown is a Policy Analyst at the CIS. Her report What’s Next for Welfare to Work was published by the CIS last month.
