Journalist Andrew Dodd submits the following proposal for undertaking the investigation pitched by Eva Cox on YouCommNews. 

How would you like it if someone else managed your money? For thousands of Australians that’s what’s happening under a controversial scheme called income management.

Income Management started out as a part of the Northern Territory Intervention. It’s a radical welfare policy and many communities are polarised about its effects. The reforms have spread to other states, with Queensland and Western Australia opting for localised schemes. Although it is voluntary for some people, it is still mandatory for many others. Technically, the scheme affects all ethnic groups. However it is predominantly targeted at Aborigines.

In the hundreds of articles that have been written on the topic, Aboriginal perspectives are under-represented. So this story will ask how income management really affects Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory. Does it really work, as the Federal Government claims? What are the reasons for the resistance to income management? Should Indigenous communities have to wait until 2014 before this controversial welfare policy is reviewed? What do the people in these remote communities have to say about this radical experiment in social reform?