Is conditional welfare an effective means for reducing alcohol and drug abuse? An exploration of compulsory income management across four Australian trial sites

[English] Conditional welfare has become a prominent policy tool in recent years. One of the harshest forms of conditional welfare in Australia is arguably compulsory income management (CIM) which involves the quarantining of between 50 and 90 per cent of a participant’s benefit payment for spending on food, rent and other essential items. A leading aim of all Australian income management (IM) programs since 2007 has been the reduction of alcohol and other drug (AOD) abuse by participants, which is expected to reduce associated social and community harms. Building on the mixed findings of official evaluations of IM, this qualitative study examines the views of both compulsory and voluntary IM participants and community stakeholders concerning AOD abuse in four IM sites. It concludes that there is little evidence to support the view that IM per se contributes to a significant reduction in AOD abuse.

[Chinese] 有条件福利近年来成为了一种很突出的政策工具。在澳大利亚，最严苛故而具争议的一项政策要属强制性收入管理，该政策包括了确保参加者百分之50至90的食品、房租以及其他基本项目开销的救济支付。2007年以来所有澳大利亚收入管理项目的主要目标，都在于减少参加者的酗酒吸毒行为， 相关的社会和社区危害据说也会降低。根据官方的评估结果，本文对收入管理项目四个地点的强制及志愿参加者以及涉及酗酒吸毒的社区相关方的观点做了定性研究。作者认为，收入管理项目本身有利于减少酗酒吸毒的观点缺少证据。