Dangers lurk in cash present

CHRISTMAS is coming, but the cupboard won't be bare. Millions of Australia's cash-strapped families, black and white, are about to get the biggest pay day of their lives.

CHRISTMAS is coming, but the cupboard won't be bare. Millions of Australia's cash-strapped families, black and white, are about to get the biggest pay day of their lives.

The money, which comes under a Rudd government package to stimulate the economy, will begin to arrive from Monday.

The sums involved are considerable: parents will receive $1000 for every child in the family (the benefit is means-tested); single carers, pensioners and veterans will get $1400; coupled pensioners, carers and veterans will receive $2100. In some remote Aboriginal communities, where families live in extended kinship arrangements, between $10,000 and $20,000 will be deposited per household.

In some families, it will mean new clothes and toys for the kids; and a Christmas celebration.

But there are concerns about the social impact of the sudden arrival of large sums of money in communities blighted by alcohol-fuelled car accidents, sexual assault, violence and gambling.

The Weekend Australian has spoken this week to community health workers, nurses, ambulance drivers and the staff at domestic violence shelters and dry-out joints, to gauge concern.

Many believed the money would be a good thing. Delana Foster, who runs a safe haven for women and children at the Kootana Women's Centre on Palm Island, said parents "will be able to buy things for the kids: it will be a good Christmas, not a bad one".

Other workers were worried that the money would be taken from women and children, and spent on gambling and booze.

A resident of Bidyadanga, a remote community of 900 indigenous people, three hours from Broome, said drunken rampages were linked to welfare payments.

"The entire community is dependent on welfare, and the money comes in late on Wednesday night. By Thursday morning, the alcohol has arrived, usually in the boot of a car from Broome," said the resident. "The cards come out by noon, and by Thursday night or Friday morning, people are drunk. They belt each other and assault the women."

There is a clinic at Bidyadanga but the nearest hospital is 200km away. "Anybody who needs surgery, or any other type of serious medical attention, has to be 'retrieved'," the resident said.

"They try to get the Royal Flying Doctor to pick them up, or else they have to call St John's Ambulance and say, meet you on the road.

"Last week, it was a man with a self-inflicted wound. His leg was open. There was a guy threatening police with a 3m pole. We had an attempted stabbing with a spear; three separate fights. This is a normal week, so what should we expect after December 8?"

Derby resident April Wilson has seven children, and is expecting more than $6000 in welfare payments.

"It's a shock to get such a big amount," she said. "We'll get a new air-conditioner in the lounge; this one is noisy and too old."

The money will also be used to make Christmas Day special for the family, after missing out last year because Ms Wilson was in hospital after being bashed.

But Derby Aboriginal Health Service CEO Vicki O'Donnell said people from nearby Fitzroy Crossing would descend on the town, 230km north of Broome, because the takeaway sale of full-strength beer was banned in Fitzroy Crossing. "I guarantee we will have an extra influx of people, loading their cars up with alcohol and staying in town to drink," she said.

Christine Kelso, who manages a dry-out centre for drunks at Mount Isa, said staff were worried about the arrival of money.

She oversees a service with 43 beds for drunks, "and it's mostly indigenous, and fairly constant".

Another worker on Mornington Island was more optimistic. "My feeling is it'll be welcome, this money, and well spent."