Income management extended for NT

Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin has announced income management will be extended for up to a year in four Northern Territory Aboriginal communities.

Ms Macklin is visiting the Central Australian community of Finke to make the announcement yesterday.

The four communities of Mutitjulu, Finke, Titjikala and Imanpa were the first to be placed on income management under the Federal intervention last year.

Ms Macklin says the announcement means about 400 welfare recipients will continue to have half of their payments quarantined for spending on basics such as food.

Ms Macklin says there is strong evidence income management is an effective measure.

"At the moment we don't have all the evidence in yet but there is evidence that there has been an improvement particularly in the consumption of fresh food," she said.

"So we want to make sure we get plenty of evidence about the impact of income management and we also want to treat people fairly across the different communities."

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