Continuing concerns about the Northern Territory Emergency Response

You might have heard Macklin has announced today that welfare quarantining will be applied to all those on income support in the Northern Territory shortly, with the rest of the nation to follow at an unspecified time thereafter.

Two bills were introduced Wednesday 25th November 2009 (today).

Extending income management to all welfare recipients in the Northern Territory will disproportionately and adversely affect Aboriginal people in Northern Territory.

It seems that the mooted idea that compulsory income management could be made a special measure under the Racial Discrimination Act, has been discarded by the Government as indefensible.

The Government is now proposing changes to compulsory income management in the Northern Territory from 1 July next year.

The Government will, end the suspension of the Race Discrimination Act but, by targeting low-income and disadvantaged people, these measures will still disproportionately and adversely affect Aboriginal people, who are over-represented in these groups.


Many more Aboriginal people who lived outside the original 73 prescribed communities of the NT will be affected for the first time.