Regulating Responsibilities: Income Management, Community Engagement and Bureaucratic Learning at Mäpuru, North East Arnhem Land

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Publication TypeJournal articleAbstractThe blanket implementation of income management in prescribed Indigenous areas under
the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) and in the absence of community
consultation or negotiation processes, was informed by a view of community engagement
as preventing action and failing to deliver outcomes. However, the outcomes of income
management documented by the authors at Mäpuru, a homeland centre in north east
Arnhem Land, demonstrates policy failure as a result of poor policy design and objectives
inappropriate to the local context. Outcomes included centralisation, reduced food security
and the perpetuation of disengagement and marginalisation. This paper discusses the
ramifications of the NTER approach to policy formulation and implementation, arguing
that this approach robs policymakers of important opportunities for bureaucratic learning
and perpetuates a cycle of policy experimentation and failure. Community engagement,
local partnerships and appropriate communications methods may lead to more appropriate
and effective policy responses to issues in Indigenous communities.AuthorPuszka, S.Greatorex, J.Williams, G.Date2013Publication CollectionNorthern Institute - Learning Communities: International Journal of Learning in Social ContextsVolume13/ 2013Page Number59-73CopyrightCC By. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia LicenseISSNISSN 1329-1440 (online)ISSN 2202-7904 (print)PublisherFaculty of Law, Education, Business and Arts CHARLES DARWIN UNIVERSITYPlace of PublicationDarwin