A reminder that the Morrison Government's extension of the Indue Cashless Debit Card is due to commence in stages from 2021 onwards

 

"Someone in an office who doesn’t know me is in charge of my financial existence. Same abuse as my former marriage.” (R127-MNI46CDC). [Greg Marston, et al, Hidden Costs: An Independent Study into Income Management in Australia, February 2020]

The Indue Cashless Debit Card is a federal government program which locks 80 per cent of an individual's periodic social security cash transfer payments into that card and dictates what that card can be used to purchase. The remaining 20 per cent of an individual's social security payment is periodically paid into that individual's personal bank account.

The debit card program applies to every person between 15 and 65 years of age who receives a Centrelink pension, benefit or payment - other than Age and Veterans Affairs pensions which are currently exempt.

On 8 October 2020 the Morrison Government introduced into the House of Representatives the Social Security (Administration) Amendment (Continuation of Cashless Welfare) Bill 2020 which:

"Amends the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 to: remove the trial parameters to establish the Cashless Debit Card (CDC) as an ongoing program; establish the Northern Territory and Cape York areas as CDC program areas and transition income management participants in these areas to the CDC program in 2021; remove a current exclusion to enable people in the Bundaberg and Hervey Bay program area to voluntary participate in the CDC program; enable a voluntary participant to continue to volunteer for the CDC even if they no longer reside in a program area; enable the secretary to advise a community body when a person has exited the CDC program; enable the minister to determine decision-making principles for the purposes of determining whether a person can demonstrate reasonable and responsible management of the person's affairs; enable the secretary to review a wellbeing exemption or exit determination in certain circumstances and remove the determination as a result of such a review; enable the secretary to issue and revoke a notice informing a person that they are a CDC program participant; remove the requirement that an evaluation be conducted by an independent expert of a review of the CDC program; and extend the sunset date for income management in Cape York from 30 June 2020 to 31 December 2021."

This bill reached the Third Reading stage unamended and on 7 December 2020 passed the Lower House by a vote of 62 to 61 (See list at end of post for names & electorates). It is now before the Senate.

When this bill finally becomes legislation all welfare recipients (with the exception of Age and Veterans Affairs pensioners) in the Ceduna SA, East Kimberley WA, Goldfields SA areas will be compulsorily placed on the Indue Cashless Debit Card and all persons in Cape York, Qld and the Northern Territory currently having their income managed will be compulsorily transferred to the Indue Cashless Debit Card.

This forced transfer applies even if during the trial period a welfare recipient was a voluntary trial participant and, all monies held in other income management accounts such as the Basics Card will be immediately transferred over to the forced participant's Indue Cashless Debit Card.

Welfare recipients in the Bundaberg and Hervey Bay areas in Queensland who were voluntary cashless debit card trial participants will be compulsorily transferred to the ongoing Indue Cashless Debit Card program.

The Age Pension is now included as a welfare payment which will be a restrictable payment and therefore included in the Indue Cashless Debit Card program of those who have entered or will enter the program voluntarily and can be included as a restrictable payment in the Cape York area on a case by case basis for involuntary participants.

The cashless debit card program began its trial rollout on 15 March 2016 and yet, according to card holders, after four years Indue Ltd:

• still fails to reliably make scheduled payments on time when it comes to regular mortgage, rent, electricity, gas, telephone/internet accounts due and program participants therefore incur late fees, receive letters threatening non-renewal of a lease/eviction or their credit rating begins to suffer;

• will suddenly decline payment at supermarkets, clothing, electrical/white goods and assorted other stores without explanation, even when there is more than enough money on a participant's debit card to pay;

• will reject use of the debit card for online purchases for absurd reasons - such as not allowed to buy a non-fiction book because the online bookstore might sell books on how to make alcoholic drinks and, not allowed to buy a stethoscope for educational course work because the online site sells hand sanitiser which contains alcohol as one of its ingredients: 

• still has instances where a participant's money disappears from an account which shows a credit balance and repayment of this cash transfer error is not corrected for weeks; and

• still has an IT (including AI) system vulnerable to internal/external outages which leave participants without the ability to use the debit card;

• still does not save and store the details of cashless debit card participant accounts, instead requiring the payer to enter full details for each one-off payment; and

• still has not managed a satisfactory patch of Indue app problems. 

Matters to Note:

The Social Security (Administration) Amendment (Continuation of Cashless Welfare) Bill 2020 does not rule out the federal government increasing the number of designated program areas within the states at some future date.

At all times the federal government reserves the right to monitor how Cashless Debit Card users are spending their money.

Most of the existing financial institution guidelines and regulations do not appear to apply to Indue Ltd's contract to manage the federal government's Cashless Debit Card program and consumer protection also seems to be minimal.

It is not certain if, once the Cashless Debit Card changes from a trial to an ongoing program, it is still covered by the federal government's Financial Claims Scheme.  Nor is it certain if, on death, the balance in the Indue Ltd account of a cashless debit card program participant becomes part of their estate or if it can lawfully be retained by Indue for payment of unspecified fees and charges.

Since May 2020 Indue Ltd pays interest on the balance held in a participant's cashless debit card account. However, the interest rate is decided by the federal government so it is unlikely to ever rise higher than somewhere between 0.01 per cent and 1.0 per cent.

The total daily payment limit on the Cashless Debit Card is currently set by default at $10,000.

Indue Ltd reserves the right to charge fees in certain circumstances. See Indue Ltd Cashless Debit Card Account Conditions of Use. 

Members of the Australian House of Representatives who voted for the Social Security (Administration) Amendment (Continuation of Cashless Welfare) Bill 2020

John Alexander, MP for Bennelong (Liberal Party of Australia)

Katie Allen, MP for Higgins Allen (Liberal Party of Australia)

Kevin Andrews, MP for Menzies (Liberal Party of Australia)

Karen Andrews, MP for McPherson (Liberal National Party of Queensland)

Angie Bell, MP for Moncrieff (Liberal National Party of Queensland)

Russell Broadbent, MP for Monash (Liberal Party of Australia)

Darren Chester, MP for Gippsland (The Nationals)

George Christensen, MP for Dawson (Liberal National Party of Queensland)

Pat Conaghan, MP for Cowper (The Nationals)

Vince Connelly, MP for Stirling (Liberal Party of Australia)

Mark Coulton, MP for Parkes (The Nationals)

Damien Drum, MP for Nicholls (The Nationals)

Peter Dutton, MP for Dickson (Liberal National Party of Queensland)

Warren Entsch, MP for Leichhardt (Liberal National Party of Queensland)

Jason Falinski, MP for Mackellar (Liberal Party of Australia)

Paul Fletcher, MP for Bradfield (Liberal Party of Australia)

Nicolle Flint, MP for Boothby (Liberal Party of Australia)

Josh Frydenberg, MP for Kooyong (Liberal Party of Australia)

Andrew Gee, MP for Calare (The Nationals)

David Gillespie, MP for Lyne (The Nationals)

Garth Hamilton, MP for Lyne (Liberal National Party of Queensland)

Celia Hammond, MP for Curtin (Liberal Party of Australia)

Andrew Hastie, MP for Canning (Liberal Party of Australia)

Alex Hawke, MP for Mitchell (Liberal Party of Australia)

Greg Hunt, MP for Flinders (Liberal Party of Australia)

Barnaby Joyce, MP for New England (The Nationals)

Andrew Laming, MP for Bowman (Liberal National Party of Queensland)

Julian Leeser, MP for Berowra (Liberal Party of Australia)

Sussan Ley, MP for Farrer (Liberal Party of Australia)

David Littleproud, MP for Maranoa (Liberal National Party of Queensland)

Gladys Liu, MP for Chisholm (Liberal Party of Australia)

Fiona Martin, MP for Reid (Liberal Party of Australia)

Michael McCormack, MP for Riverina (The Nationals)

Melissa McIntosh, MP for Lindsay (Liberal Party of Australia)

Scott Morrison, MP for Cook (Liberal Party of Australia)

Ted O'Brien, MP for Fairfax (Liberal National Party of Queensland)

Ken O'Dowd, MP for Flynn (Liberal National Party of Queensland)

Tony Pasin, MP for Barker (Liberal Party of Australia)

Gavin Pearce, MP for Braddon (Liberal Party of Australia)

Keith Pitt, MP for Hinkler (Liberal National Party of Queensland)

Christian Porter, MP for Pearce (Liberal Party of Australia)

Melissa Price, MP for Durack (Liberal Party of Australia)

Rowan Ramsey, MP for Grey (Liberal Party of Australia)

Stuart Robert, MP for Fadden (Liberal National Party of Queensland)

Dave Sharma, MP for Wentworth (Liberal Party of Australia)

Julian Simmonds, MP for Ryan (Liberal National Party of Queensland)

James Stevens, MP for Sturt (Liberal Party of Australia)

Michael Sukkar, MP for Deakin (Liberal Party of Australia)

Angus Taylor, MP for Hume (Liberal Party of Australia)

Dan Tehan, MP for Wannon (Liberal Party of Australia)

Phillip Thompson, MP for Herbert (Liberal National Party of Queensland)

Alan Tudge, MP for Aston (Liberal Party of Australia)

Bert van Manen, MP for Forde (Liberal National Party of Queensland)

Ross Vasta, MP for Bonner (Liberal National Party of Queensland)

Andrew Wallace, MP for Fisher (Liberal National Party of Queensland)

Anne Webster, MP for Mallee (The Nationals)

Mrs Wicks (Liberal Party of Australia)

Mr R. J. Wilson (Liberal Party of Australia)

Mr T. R. Wilson (Liberal Party of Australia)

Ken Wyatt, MP for Hasluck (Liberal Party of Australia)

Terry Young, MP for Longman (Liberal National Party of Queensland)

Trent Zimmerman, MP for North Sydney (Liberal Party of Australia)