Extract from The Guardian
It’s about power and control, and appeasing the masses who think we’re all dole bludgers. We’re not
Craig Chaloner: It’s done nothing but make life harder
I’m Craig. I’m 51 and moved to Ceduna in 2015 for a cheaper and more relaxed lifestyle. We didn’t know about the cashless debit card when we moved here.
The card makes life hard. I really feel for my friends with big families and kids – they can’t even take their kids to the Oysterfest because it only takes cash. I have been on the carer’s pension for the last five years. I am a full-time carer and I work a part-time job three hours a week. That’s the most I can work and still receive my payment.
I’ve always been really good with my money. I know how to find all the cheap things in town. I know how to budget. I have to – because I don’t have much money to spend. But the card makes it hard. I used to buy money orders and keep them in my room for Christmas time and to help with budgeting. I’ve got two boys in Perth, so every year I would buy them a gift card and send it over but I can’t even do that now. One year I tried to buy the kids pushbikes for Christmas and found some really cheap ones for $60 and $80 each – but I couldn’t use the card, so I had to work out how to get the money elsewhere. No one who doesn’t know you wants to give you all their bank details, so you end up not being able to buy things off Gumtree or the Ceduna Buy Swap Sell, even though that’s where things are the cheapest.
The card means I can’t do normal things. I can’t go to the football club or to the yacht club. You can’t even take the kids and buy lollies or water. In July I went to the pub for my birthday to have dinner with some friends. When I went to pay for my meal I couldn’t, because of the card. I didn’t even order a beer. They don’t tell you this beforehand – they just let you go and embarrass yourself.
It happened again the other day when I tried to buy an air conditioner but it was too expensive to pay for all in one go on the card. When they saw it was the “Indue card” they asked, “Oh, so you’re not working? You’re on the dole?”
That really embarrassed me.
They say just get a job but it’s not that easy out here. Maybe the government should start creating more jobs out in country towns like Ceduna instead of putting people on the card. For a card that’s meant to help people, it’s done nothing but make life harder.
Kaelah*: You’re not really meant to be able to get off the card
This card is financial abuse. If a spouse or partner did this to you and your partner wanted to know where you were spending your money and why, if they demanded receipts – we would call that financial abuse. It’s about power and control, and appeasing the masses who think we’re all dole bludgers. We’re not.
I’m a full-time carer. I’m on the carer’s pension. I have a 21-year-old son with high-functioning autism. I fought very hard to keep him off the card, but they still put me on it. To me, that decision just showed how arbitrary this whole card is.
I fought tooth and nail to keep my son off the card. His whole life he has been discriminated against because of his disability. He has been excluded from excursions at school and made to have lunch at a different time from the other kids. I knew if they put him on the card it would be another kick in the guts for him. They agreed to keep him off if I was his payment nominee. So I receive his disability support pension, portion it for him so he has enough money for bills and things, and then give the rest to him to spend.
They decided I was financially responsible enough to manage my son’s money, but they still put me on the cashless debit card because they decided I can’t manage my own.
It makes no sense.
Probably the most upsetting thing that has happened on the card is that they refused to let me buy medical equipment I needed. I have lipedema. It’s a condition that makes my legs extremely swollen. I’m supposed to be wearing compression stockings. I applied to buy some special compression wraps that you can buy overseas. These would be better than the stockings for me because I can’t get the stockings on myself. They demanded details of my diagnosis, the website where I wanted to buy the stockings, costings, ETA of delivery … and they still said no.
It was so demoralising. I couldn’t even use my own money to buy medical equipment.
When I applied to get off the card they wanted to know if I had ever had my utilities disconnected. If I had ever had any dealings with child protection (even though my kids are now grown). If I had ever defaulted on a loan – including a loan I defaulted on over 10 years ago when my ex-husband took off and left me and our young children with his debts. They wanted proof of a bank account that no longer existed. The whole thing was a joke. You’re not really meant to be able to get off the card.
* Kaelah prefers to use only her first name
No comments:
Post a Comment