A FEDERAL Government plan to roll out compulsory income manage- ment for welfare recipients across the country could cripple Kempsey, local businesses have been warned.
Local woman Sharon Livermore believes small business in Kempsey would be devastated under the Rudd Government’s plan, which it hopes to implement from July 1 this year.
Under legislation passed by the House of Representatives in November, the Government would have the power to require 50 per cent of welfare recipient’s payments be quarantined as vouchers for spending on food and other life essentials.
The reform is in part an extension of the Government’s controversial intervention into indig- enous communities in the Northern Territory, and is designed to protect children from neglect and reduce instances of domestic violence.
The Howard government introduced the controversial Northern Terr- itory Emergency Response (NTER) in 2007 after declaring the abuse of children in Aboriginal communities a national emergency.
Now the Rudd Government has rewritten the legislation that created NTER to deliver on its promise to make the measures compliant with the Racial Discrimination Act.
As part of that it has declared compulsory income management will be rolled out across the nation.
The legislation is yet to pass the Senate, but the Families Minister Jenny Macklin wants it approved before the start of the new financial year.
If it is passed the Government hopes to start implementing the reforms nationally by 2012.
Kempsey is likely to be one of the areas hardest hit by the reforms.
Unemployment sits just under 10 per cent locally, among the highest levels in the State, and the area is also home to a significant indigenous population.
Sharon Livermore said the reforms would not only place significant burdens on the local indigenous population but also had potentially devastating implications for small business in the town.
“Indigenous people shop locally,” she said.
“The black dollar keeps large parts of this community afloat.”
She said businesses such as pubs and small retail stores would be particularly hard hit while large multi-nationals would reap the benefits.
“Vouchers will only be able to be spent at places like Woolworths and Big W, which means the pubs are going to be crippled,” she said.
“The bargain stores will go and any other legitimate small business will struggle.
“All the employers and trainers of our young people will go.”
Ms Livermore is hoping to start a grassroots movement opposing the legislation and is seeking the support of the local Chamber of Commerce and small business owners as well as the indigenous community.
“We need to alert this town that this is going on,” she said.
“We don’t need Big Brother to come in here and tell us how to handle our money.
“If we didn’t know how to handle our money, how could we have survived to now?”
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