Compulsory Income Management – Exploring Counter Narratives amidst Colonial Constructions of Vulnerability

This article explores counter narratives to the dominant colonial narrative about
Indigenous welfare recipients classified as ‘vulnerable’ under the compulsory
income management laws. The compulsory income management laws and
policies were implemented initially in 2007 as part of the Northern Territory
Intervention, and were modified to some degree in 2010 in what the
Government alleges to be a non-racially discriminatory manner. These laws
were further entrenched and extended in June 2012 as part of the Stronger
Futures legislative package. The laws have a particularly significant impact
upon Indigenous welfare recipients in the Northern Territory and, increasingly,
across some other Indigenous communities outside that jurisdiction. The
government narrative about income management maintains that it is beneficial
for those subject to it. However, there are other marginalised narratives that
shed light upon the compulsory income management discourse. These suggest
that law constructs, rather than merely describes, the vulnerability that the
Government claims to seek to redress via these laws.