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Income quarantine can cause more welfare dependency: expert
THE success of a new card to quarantine up to 80% of a welfare recipient's payments will depend on whether people actually want to change.
That was the advice Rob Bray, an income management expert at the Australian National University, gave a Senate committee considering new laws to create the card.
The card was originally used in the Northern Territory Intervention and is being considered for a potential national roll-out to all Australians on welfare.
Mr Bray told the committee he worked on a review of the NT card, finding mixed results.
But he said for many people, it actually created more welfare dependency than financial independence. He said those who benefited most were already willing to change their life.
