The study, which interviewed 26 experts in social welfare, revealed that CIM is incompatible with the needs of welfare recipients and places an administrative burden on individuals and organizations.
According to the study's lead author, Dr. Stephen Roche, a "top-down approach" to CIM has done little to address the underlying issues of harm from alcohol and other drugs.
Participants in the study considered CIM a punitive approach to reducing harm and suggested that a policy reform agenda involving genuine community consultation is desperately needed.
The findings detail CIM’s negligible impact on behaviour change around social harms and suggest that CIM can exacerbate issues such as family violence, where CIM is weaponised by men who use violence in situations of family violence.Dr Stephen Roche
Dr. Roche also emphasized that CIM has been found to be ineffective in preventing or reducing family violence and that a more community-based policy development process is required to better understand the complexities of CIM in the Northern Territory.
The study also highlighted the challenges CIM creates for welfare recipients in regional and remote areas, where it can exacerbate cost-of-living pressures and limit consumer choice.
