The Wire

The Federal Cabinet met in Canberra today to discuss the introduction of new restrictions on welfare payments, in the style of the Government’s new Northern Territory strategy. The Families and Indigenous Affairs minister Mal Brough said the plan was about protecting children, not hurting families, because payments would only be affected for families who failed to spend the money on essentials like food and rent. But Welfare groups have attacked the plan as micro-managing, and Indigenous groups say it’s discriminatory because only non-Indigenous families who do not adequately care for their children will have their payments quarantined. In the Northern Territory, all Indigenous families are subject to the restrictions.