This review considered whether the compulsory income management scheme is compatible with human rights and what its impact had been on communities where it was imposed. The report finds that the compulsory scheme limits human rights and as a result recommends its abolition in favour of a wholly voluntary scheme.

Regarding human rights, the committee finds that subjecting an individual to compulsory income management and restricting how they spend a portion of their social security payment engages and limits several human rights, in particular:

• the right to social security;
• the right to privacy; and
• the right to equality and non-discrimination. 

To a lesser degree the scheme is also found to engage and limit human rights including the right to an adequate standard of living, the rights of the child, and the right to health.

Recommendations

• Amend the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 to make income management voluntary.
• Immediately amend the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 to establish more pathways out of compulsory income management.
• Invest in a full suite of local support programs, opportunities, and community-driven alternatives and the creation of real jobs, with award wages and conditions, adequate training, and the rebuilding of local community decision-making.
• Ensure participants are advised, in ways that are accessible and culturally appropriate, of the option to apply to be exempt from compulsory income management and the process to achieve this.