[Commpsych] FW: NT Intervention Evidence Trivialised into a Lemonade solution

[Heather Gridley]

Sending this around because I couldn't believe Minister Macklin's soft-drink response when I heard it last night either...
 
Heather 
________________________________

From: womenforwik-bounces at whatsworking.com.au on behalf of eva cox
Sent: Mon 17/05/2010 9:24 AM
To: Womenforwik at whatsworking.com.au
Cc: ausfem-polnet at postoffice.utas.edu.au; womenspeak at lists.nwjc.org.au; dissenting-voices at listserv.uts.edu.au
Subject: [Womenforwik] (no subject)

MEDIA Release

Evidence Trivialised into a Lemonade solution

Minister Macklin's response to the latest evidence that Income Management
doesn't work, from the newly released Menzies Health Centre study, is only
the latest  example of anti-evidence based decisions in the welfare system.
Jumbunna, the UTS Indigenous research unit, released a report last week
summarising the evidence for and against the proposed changes which shows
that there is little hard evidence and even less support for the proposed
changes. Of all the many major welfare agencies that put their views to the
Senate Inquiry NONE supported the current proposal.

The Government response yesterday, was incredibly trivial and dismissive as
reported on the News website:

'THE Federal Government will look at new ways to cut down soft drink
consumption in remote Northern Territory communities. It has requested
bureaucrats recommend ways to help reduce sales of high sugar drinks in
indigenous communities. The Government response follows a study from the
Darwin-based Menzies School of Health Research, released today, that found
income management in the NT had done little to dampen soft-drink sales.'

This is a ludicrously trivialising response to a report, as reported on the
ABC News site, which seriously questioned the value of the program:

A group of leading academics from across the nation says the Federal
Intervention is doing more harm than good in the Northern Territory. The
Intervention is a series of welfare reforms and packages aimed at tackling
claims of rampant sexual abuse and health problems in remote communities.
But according to new research published in the Medical Journal of Australia,
income management has not resulted in more healthy food being bought and
eaten by many Aborigines.

The MJA report itself finishes with: 'The government's aim in introducing
income management is to ensure that people receiving welfare payments use
this money in a government-prescribed "socially responsible" way, and in a
way that makes money available to "feed, clothe, house and provide for the
education of their children". Our findings suggest that income management
may not be associated with healthier food and drink purchases, and may be
having no effect on tobacco sales'.

This study should be taken together with the Australian Indigenous Doctors
finding about psychological harm of being shamed by loss of control in
compulsory Income Management. The SMH today quotes the president of the
Australian Indigenous Doctors Association, Peter O'Mara, as saying there
were concerns the intervention was doing ''more harm than good'' and income
management was one of the chief problems.

We have attached the summary section of our report. The full report can be
obtained by from eva.cox at uts.edu.au. It was completed before the full
Menzies Research report was available but already offers ample evidence for
not continuing or expanding income management in its current or proposed
form.

Eva Cox Research Fellow Jumbunna May 17th 2010.




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