Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Plea for ‘action’ on income plan

byStaff writers
14 March 2010 - Updated on 16 March 2021
Reading Time: 2 mins read
AA
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

THE Federal Government’s plan to introduce forced income management for welfare recipients across Australia has been described by a national Catholic welfare body as a “move towards a meaner social safety net” and “likely to be counter-productive”.

The income quarantine plan has been proposed as part of Government legislation to reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act in the Northern Territory, suspended by the Howard Government in 2007 to allow certain aspects of the Northern Territory intervention to operate in some indigenous communities.

Catholic Social Services of Australia executive director Frank Quinlan, who last month sent a submission to a Senate inquiry into the proposed legislation, said it was hoped the review process would “yield amendments” to make the proposed legislation fairer.

Mr Quinlan said “a blanket approach” of forced income management would “to a certain extent replace race-based discrimination with class-based discrimination and would hit people doing the right thing, limiting the ability of individuals to manage their own affairs”.

St Vincent de Paul Society national chief executive officer Dr John Falzon told the Senate inquiry, held in Canberra on February 26, the Federal Government was acting in an “exclusionary and divisive” manner.

Dr Falzon told the inquiry this was because the reinstatement of the Racial Discrimination Act has been made dependent on forced income management of welfare recipients across Australia.

About 16,000 people in 73 Northern Territory indigenous communities have their welfare payments quarantined to ensure money is spent on food and clothing, rather than drugs and alcohol.

Mr Quinlan said “adequate income support was an entitlement”.

“It should not be a tool for governments or public sector managements to achieve ‘outcomes’,” he said.

“People should not be asked to forego basic privileges just because of where they live or the income support category into which they fall.

Related Stories

Archbishop calls for prayers in “troubled times”

US bishops applaud San Francisco prelates pastoral response to Pelosi’s decades of abortion advocacy

Myanmar military burns houses, destroys a village

“By planning to impose income quarantining, the Government is basically saying: ‘Even though we’re not meeting our obligations to you, we’re going to load you up with obligations and micro-manage your life’.

“Most people will not see that as a fair deal.”

Quite often individuals were in situations of welfare dependency through no fault of their own, Mr Quinlan said.

“At times there’s a structural failure in the system itself.”

Mr Quinlan said he believed the Government should go back to the drawing board and “revisit the nature of the social contract itself”.

 

 

ShareTweet
Previous Post

Suspenseful look at the folly of war

Next Post

Pastoral plan

Staff writers

Related Posts

Archbishop calls for prayers in “troubled times”
News

Archbishop calls for prayers in “troubled times”

24 May 2022
Myanmar military burns houses, destroys a village
News

US bishops applaud San Francisco prelates pastoral response to Pelosi’s decades of abortion advocacy

24 May 2022
Myanmar military burns houses, destroys a village
News

Myanmar military burns houses, destroys a village

24 May 2022
Next Post

Pastoral plan

Hundreds gather to rally for life

St George priest lives a life full of adventure

Popular News

  • From a humble start Albanese is sworn in as new prime minister

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • US bishops applaud San Francisco prelates pastoral response to Pelosi’s decades of abortion advocacy

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Archbishop calls for prayers in “troubled times”

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar military burns houses, destroys a village

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Catholic environmentalist says Australia has failed as God’s caretakers of earth following interim report

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

Archbishop calls for prayers in “troubled times”
News

Archbishop calls for prayers in “troubled times”

by Mark Bowling
24 May 2022
0

BRISBANE Archbishop Mark Coleridge has used the feast day of Our Lady, Help of Christians to call...

Myanmar military burns houses, destroys a village

US bishops applaud San Francisco prelates pastoral response to Pelosi’s decades of abortion advocacy

24 May 2022
Myanmar military burns houses, destroys a village

Myanmar military burns houses, destroys a village

24 May 2022
Life ‘is always sacred and inviolable’, Pope Francis says

Life ‘is always sacred and inviolable’, Pope Francis says

23 May 2022

From a humble start Albanese is sworn in as new prime minister

23 May 2022

Never miss a story. Sign up to the Weekly Round-Up
eNewsletter now to receive headlines directly in your email.

Sign up to eNews
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyChoose another Subscription
    Continue Shopping