What is Family Income Management (FIM)?

“FIM is a money management system specially designed to
meet the particular needs of Indigenous families in Cape York seeking to manage their incomes to achieve their goals in a remote environment”.

History of FIM
FIM came about following several years of discussion and development by Cape York people. It is one of a number of linked initiatives being undertaken in the Cape to address the critical needs and issues facing the people of Cape York.

The Federal government first became interested in the concept of Family Income Management following the publication by Mr Noel Pearson of ‘Our Right to Take Responsibility’. This book describes the harmful effects passive welfare dependency is having on our people, and the urgency of breaking the welfare cycle and engaging in the real economy, working in real jobs for real money.

The government’s response to this book was to begin new relationships between the government and the Indigenous people of Cape York as equal partners in a process now known as Cape York Partnerships. Features of the new Partnership relationship are a sharing of responsibility and accountability for results and process; agreeing on programs and actions through negotiations between government and Indigenous people as partners in Negotiation Tables, and the commitment of all parties to sustained action with a common direction supported by co-ordination, co-operation and a common purpose.

FIMS is a money management system specially designed to meet the particular needs of Indigenous families seeking to manage their incomes to achieve their goals. FIM offers an alternative practical solution to the barriers experienced by many Indigenous people in accessing mainstream financial and banking services. The FIM service reflects the learning’s gained from the experiences of the people in the communities of Aurukun, Coen and Mossman Gorge, the Cape York communities which first trailed FIM from June 2002 to July 2004. The project has since expanded to Hopevale, Cooktown and Weipa, which takes in Napranum and Mapoon. From 2002 FIM was funded by the Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services. FIM has been supported from the outset by the Westpac Banking Corporation through their secondee program which commenced in November 2001 under the Indigenous Enterprise Partnerships (IEP) program. A key feature of FIM has been working intensively with families and households to develop a household budget, commence direct deductions of each individual’s contributions to household bills, food buying accounts, personal and group savings accounts.