Australia plans to overhaul a policy branded by international experts as racist that restricts how Aborigines can spend their welfare cheques.

Australia’s government today defended a programme aimed at stamping out child sex abuse among Aborigines after a United Nations expert said the radical restrictions it imposed on minority communities amounted to human rights violations.

A United Nations representative is visiting Australia to investigate complaints that a government crackdown on child abuse in Outback settlements is violating Aborigines’ human rights.