Income Management and Intersectionality: Analysing Compulsory Income Management through the lenses of Critical Race Theory and Critical Disability Studies (‘DisCrit’)

Abstract

This article investigates the relationship between racism, ableism and classism in the context of compulsory income management, with a focus on difficulties encountered by people experiencing these intersections. We analyse government-commissioned evaluation reports of income management in the Northern Territory, using Critical Race Theory and Disability Studies as analytical tools. Experiences of social security recipients falling within the ‘vulnerable’ income management stream who participated in the evaluation indicate that Indigenous people with a disability are at greater risk of social exclusion due to the negative impacts of compulsory income management law. We argue that diminished financial autonomy caused by the ‘vulnerable’ income management measure has produced significant harm for some recipients, undermining their capacity to secure basic needs. We also consider human rights compatibility problems with ‘vulnerable’ income management, drawing upon international human rights principles, and conclude that it produces indirect race and disability discrimination.