A Critical Review of the Capability Approach in Australian Indigenous Policy

Abstract

The capability approach has recently been used in Australian Indigenous \npolicy formation. Of particular note is how it has been used in some \ninstances to justify current paternalistic and directive policies for Indigenous \nAustralians. These include behavioural conditionalities on state support \nand income management—policy apparatuses that aim to create individual \nresponsibility and to re-engineer the social norms of Indigenous people. \nThis interpretation of the capability approach is at odds with the writings \nof Sen, because it overlooks the core concepts of freedom, agency and \npluralism. To examine this tension, this paper reviews the contestation \nbetween capability scholars and commentators on Indigenous policy, paying \nparticular attention to four areas: human capability vs human capital, deficit \ndiscourse, individual responsibility, and the ends and means of policy. Finally, \nto reinvigorate the capability approach in Australian Indigenous policy, six \nareas are suggested in which the capability approach could be used in the \nfuture

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