Compulsory Income Management in Australia and New Zealand: More Harm than Good? (Research in Comparative and Global Social Policy)

More than a decade on from their conception, this book reflects on the consequences of income management policies in Australia and New Zealand.

Drawing on a three-year study, it explores the lived experience of those for whom core welfare benefits and services are dependent on government conceptions of ‘responsible’ behaviour. It analyses whether officially claimed positive intentions and benefits of the schemes are outweighed by negative impacts that deepen the poverty and stigma of marginalised and disadvantaged groups.

This novel study considers the future of this form of welfare conditionality and addresses wider questions of fairness and social justice.

Greg Marston is Professor in the School of Social Science at The University of Queensland, Australia.

Louise Humpage is Honorary Associate Professor in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Michelle Peterie is Research Fellow in Sociology at the Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies at The University of Sydney.

Philip Mendes is Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work at Monash University, Australia.

Shelley Bielefeld is ARC DECRA Fellow and Senior Lecturer in the Griffith Law School and the Law Futures Centre at Griffith University, Australia.