Families will still be able to put food on the table if parents are put on income management for failing to ensure their children attend school, a territory government says.
The move is part of a program to keep "chronically disengaged" kids on track and out of trouble on the streets, Northern Territory Education Minister Jo Hersey says.
Timed for the start of the final school term of 2025, the measure applies to families on government income support and comes on top of truancy fines of up to $370 introduced in 2024.
The territory's schools have grim attendance statistics, sitting at only 72.6 per cent in the second term of 2025.
"This is not about making sure that families don't have money to put food on the table, but we must make sure that children get to school," Ms Hersey told reporters on Monday.
"If you don't want to be income-managed and if you don't want to be fined, get your kids to school."
But Ms Hersey could not give any details on what percentage of income might be cut, saying it would be on a case-by-case basis.
If children were not in school but out in the community committing crime they would not get the education needed for meaningful employment, she said.
It was a case of working with families to ensure they had enough for food and other expenses, but making sure their children go to school.
The federal Department of Social Services had worked with the NT government to instigate the income-management initiative through referrals by the NT education department, the minister said.
The territory introduced school attendance officers in late 2024, with the government pointing to 6000 compliance visits leading to 328 students returned to classrooms.
