The Australian Council of Social Service has called on the Senate to
reject the cashless welfare card program, saying it is “making people’s
lives more difficult”.
Labor and the Greens have already said they will oppose the planned expansion of the card into the Goldfields region of Western Australia and Bundaberg in Queensland, meaning the government will have to rely on the crossbenchers to get the enabling legislation through the Senate.
The legislation would allow the scheme to be expanded to any region of Australia without further parliamentary approval.
In a statement on Thursday, the Acoss chief executive, Cassandra Goldie, said the mandatory cards, which restrict 80% of the income of anyone within the target area who receives an unemployment benefit, were “not backed by reliable evidence” and did not have adequate support from a broad range of people in each of the proposed sites.
“There is wide-ranging concern that mandatory cashless debit has been imposed on communities without proper consultation and consent,” Goldie said. “This is a totally unacceptable approach to policy making. Communities must be listened to and have control over their futures.”
She praised Labor and the Greens for pledging to vote against the
expansion and said the cost of administering the card, which at the two
trial sites of the East Kimberley in WA and Ceduna in South Australia,
came to about $10,000 per participant would be better spent providing
services like financial counselling, drug and alcohol services, youth
programs and family violence services.
Those services were funded as part of the card’s trial program, which social policy experts said both skewed the results of the government’s final evaluation and played a role in persuading communities to sign up in the first place.
Experts also said the evaluation was poorly designed and based on “questionable research.”
“We know that the card is making people’s lives more difficult,” Goldie said. “The government’s own interim evaluation found that half of the people subjected to the card said their lives had become worse since its introduction.”
The human services minister, Alan Tudge, maintained the government has the numbers for the legislation to pass and said Labor’s opposition to the program, which it supported in the trial stages, was an attempt “to chase those inner city Green votes in Melbourne and Sydney where some of their seats are under pressure”.
“They are willing just to sell out the children of the Goldfields, sell out the women who are being bashed to chase those inner city Green votes,” Tudge said.
Labor announced it would not support the rollout in a dissenting report to a Senate committee inquiry on the card, which heard from community organisations within the two trial sites and from communities that had been flagged for the expansion.
In a joint statement, Labor’s Jenny Macklin and Linda Burney said they would support the continuation of the existing trials at Ceduna and the East Kimberley but there was “insufficient credible evidence” to support the establishment of further trials.
“In future, Labor will only consider the introduction of any new trial sites if the government can show that the community have agreed through a formal consultation process with the community, as well as an agreed definition of consent, and have established an evidence base through a robust and credible evaluation,” they said.
“Labor believes that there is insufficient credible evidence at this point to support the establishment of further trials of the cashless debit card.”
The Greens also produced a dissenting report and have never supported the program. The WA senator Rachel Siewert said if Labor was genuine in its concerns over the paucity of evidence it would withdraw its support for the existing trial sites.
“Residents in Ceduna and the East Kimberley should not continue to be forced to live under this flawed approach,” Siewert said.
Tudge said the card had “a demonstrable impact” in the two trial sites by reducing alcohol consumption, which the evaluation report said had reduced among 40% of surveyed participants in the East Kimberley.
He said community leaders in the Goldfields, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, had been “pleading” to the government to introduce the card.
“We want to introduce this card, we are still going to because we are confident we will have the crossbench support but I am just deeply disappointed in the Labor party, who seem to be prioritising Green votes in Melbourne and Sydney above the interests of children and women in the Goldfields.”
Labor and the Greens have already said they will oppose the planned expansion of the card into the Goldfields region of Western Australia and Bundaberg in Queensland, meaning the government will have to rely on the crossbenchers to get the enabling legislation through the Senate.
The legislation would allow the scheme to be expanded to any region of Australia without further parliamentary approval.
In a statement on Thursday, the Acoss chief executive, Cassandra Goldie, said the mandatory cards, which restrict 80% of the income of anyone within the target area who receives an unemployment benefit, were “not backed by reliable evidence” and did not have adequate support from a broad range of people in each of the proposed sites.
“There is wide-ranging concern that mandatory cashless debit has been imposed on communities without proper consultation and consent,” Goldie said. “This is a totally unacceptable approach to policy making. Communities must be listened to and have control over their futures.”
Those services were funded as part of the card’s trial program, which social policy experts said both skewed the results of the government’s final evaluation and played a role in persuading communities to sign up in the first place.
Experts also said the evaluation was poorly designed and based on “questionable research.”
“We know that the card is making people’s lives more difficult,” Goldie said. “The government’s own interim evaluation found that half of the people subjected to the card said their lives had become worse since its introduction.”
The human services minister, Alan Tudge, maintained the government has the numbers for the legislation to pass and said Labor’s opposition to the program, which it supported in the trial stages, was an attempt “to chase those inner city Green votes in Melbourne and Sydney where some of their seats are under pressure”.
“They are willing just to sell out the children of the Goldfields, sell out the women who are being bashed to chase those inner city Green votes,” Tudge said.
Labor announced it would not support the rollout in a dissenting report to a Senate committee inquiry on the card, which heard from community organisations within the two trial sites and from communities that had been flagged for the expansion.
In a joint statement, Labor’s Jenny Macklin and Linda Burney said they would support the continuation of the existing trials at Ceduna and the East Kimberley but there was “insufficient credible evidence” to support the establishment of further trials.
“In future, Labor will only consider the introduction of any new trial sites if the government can show that the community have agreed through a formal consultation process with the community, as well as an agreed definition of consent, and have established an evidence base through a robust and credible evaluation,” they said.
“Labor believes that there is insufficient credible evidence at this point to support the establishment of further trials of the cashless debit card.”
The Greens also produced a dissenting report and have never supported the program. The WA senator Rachel Siewert said if Labor was genuine in its concerns over the paucity of evidence it would withdraw its support for the existing trial sites.
“Residents in Ceduna and the East Kimberley should not continue to be forced to live under this flawed approach,” Siewert said.
Tudge said the card had “a demonstrable impact” in the two trial sites by reducing alcohol consumption, which the evaluation report said had reduced among 40% of surveyed participants in the East Kimberley.
He said community leaders in the Goldfields, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, had been “pleading” to the government to introduce the card.
“We want to introduce this card, we are still going to because we are confident we will have the crossbench support but I am just deeply disappointed in the Labor party, who seem to be prioritising Green votes in Melbourne and Sydney above the interests of children and women in the Goldfields.”
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