On
17 December 2020 provisions of the Social Security
(Administration) Amendment (Continuation of Cashless Welfare) Bill
2020 received assent and were incorporated into Social
Security (Administration) Act 1999.
The
principal purpose of that bill was to widen the scope of the Cashless
Debit Card Trial, rename the trial as a “program”
and establish it as an national ongoing social security program.
Those
pentecostal buddies, Australian Prime Minister & Liberal MP for
Cook Scott
Morrison
and
then
Minister
for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, Minister for Minister
for Government Services & still
LNP
MP for Fadden Stuart
Robert,
along
with another member of the ‘Morrison Group’, Minister for Families and
Social Services & Liberal Senator for South Australia
Anne
Rushton, were able to widen the scope of
the trial &
rename the Cashless Debit Card trial
a
“program”.
However, although
the
entire Northern Territory is now a Cashless Debit Card Program Area
participation in the scheme is voluntary and despite sustained effort on the part
of federal government
the Cashless Debit Card Trial remains a trial with a sunset date of
31 December 2022 in
all other remaining trial sites.
The
Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Government has been attempting to create a
coercive, punitive, cashless payment system for government pensions,
benefits, allowances and one-off payments since 2014 and, they have
become quite skilled at political & legislative incremental
creep.
Make
no mistake, Morrison,
the
man who since
at least 2006
has
been voicing his belief that this
is what the Lord wants … He wants me to become prime minister
and who as prime minister seeks signs
from God on how to proceed during an election campaign as well as
secretly ‘laying hands
on’
and praying for people he personally
comes into contact with,
will continue with his relentless - in his eyes seemingly 'righteous' - push
to control the incomes and minutiae of daily living of as many
ordinary Australians as
he
can
convince Parliament to punitively
define
as ignorant,
poor,
deviant or
Aboriginal at risk.
BACKGROUND
# 7
News, 16 March 2021:
A
$2.5 million government report into the cashless debit card is
inconclusive on whether it reduces harm from alcohol, drugs and
gambling, but has found people on the welfare cards are ashamed and
embarrassed.
“It’s
ostrich policy - put your head in the sand,” Labor MP Linda Burney
told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.
“We
do not believe there should be mandatory, universal application of a
cashless debit card because people are on Centrelink benefits.”
Social
Services Minister Anne Ruston made the decision to extend the trial
sites without any evidence and without waiting for the report, Ms
Burney said.
Commissioned
in 2018, the University of Adelaide’s report on the cashless debit
card looked at whether alcohol and drug use, violence and gambling
reduced during trials of the card in Ceduna, East Kimberley and the
Goldfields but found no conclusive evidence.
“In
many cases we found the reality to be more complex and nuanced than
can be expressed as clear cut answers,” research head Kostas
Mavromaras said in the report.
Ms
Burney said the research “tells us nothing and is a complete waste
of time”.
Greens
Senator Rachel Siewert said the card is “racist and discriminatory”
and should be abandoned.
“These
trials were always about targeting First Nations peoples,
stigmatising people on income support and those with addiction issues
rather than addressing the underlying causes of disadvantage,”
Senator Siewert said.
“The
evaluation itself notes the difficulty in evaluating the so-called
trials because they were never set up to be properly evaluated.”….
# Cashless
Debit Card (CDC) Extended Rollout 2021: Briefing Paper March 2021
# Senate
Standing Committee on Community Affairs Legislation Committee (Nov
2019) Inquiry
into the Social
Security (Administration) Amendment (Income
Management to Cashless Debit Card Transition)
Bill 2019
[Provisions],
Submission
1,
Professor
Matthew Gray
& Dr.
Rob Bray,
ATTACHMENT A: Bray, J Rob
(October
2019), ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods, “Measuring
the social impact of Income Management in the Northern Territory –
an updated analysis”:
Executive
Summary
A
stated objective of income management in the Northern Territory, both
under the Northern Territory Emergency Response, and through ‘New
Income Management’ (NIM) has been to improve outcomes for
individuals, their families and the communities they live in. The
2014 evaluation of NIM reported that it could not identify any
impacts in its analysis of social outcomes that could be attributed
to the policy.
This
paper seeks to re‐examine this question using data, where possible
from before the initial introduction of income management under the
NTERIM, to the most recently available.
The
magnitude of the program in the Northern Territory, with one third of
Indigenous people aged 15 years and over directly being subject to
the policy is such that to the extent the program makes an impact
this should be apparent at the community level, in particular in
contrast to the experience of non‐Indigenous people in the Northern
Territory, and the Indigenous population nationally both of which
were only lightly touched by these programs.
Analysis
of key social outcomes indicates:
Over
the period of income management the rate of infant mortality amongst
Indigenous people in the Northern Territory has increased, this
contrasts with falls for Indigenous people nationally and for
non‐Indigenous people in the Northern Territory. This group has
also seen a rise in low birth weight births, and an increase in child
deaths from injury. Child abuse and neglect substantiations have also
increased, although it is noted this may be influenced by a
willingness to report. Indigenous children in the Northern Territory
have not seen the same declines in developmental vulnerability as
have Indigenous children elsewhere.
The
period since the introduction of income management has seen falling
rates of school attendance by Indigenous children in the Northern
Territory, and while some NAPLAN results have improved for these
children, others have not. Again where there have been gains these
are smaller than those for Indigenous children nationally.
There
is strong evidence of a decline in alcohol consumption in the
Northern Territory. This is a trend that pre‐dates the introduction
of income management with research identifying a range of policies,
including pricing and supply limitations which appear to be driving
it. Notwithstanding this Indigenous people do not report a lower rate
of risky drinking in 2014‐15 than they did in 2002, and alcohol
related emergency department presentations have increased.
Rates
of assaults appear to be largely flat, although there is a decline in
assaults associated with alcohol. No consistent pattern of declining
crime is identifiable in data from 2007 onwards, although there is
evidence of particular alcohol restriction enforcement activities
directly impacting on crime. The rate of imprisonment of Indigenous
people in the Northern Territory has continued to rise strongly
across the period of income management. These findings not only
reflect upon a failure of income management policies to achieve their
goals, but also have implications for a wider range of interventions
under the Northern Territory Emergency Response and Stronger
Futures….. [my yellow highlighting]
The
completer 59 page submission can be read and/or downloaded at:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I9w2Tdurcb1XaiAlyrqA53yZPlKiVrkf/view
OR
sub01_ANUCSRM.
#
The Cashless Debit Card scheme covering people who receive
working age welfare payments is currently applied to residents in six
areas.
These
are:
Ceduna,
South Australia
Kununurra
and Wyndham in the East Kimberly region, Western Australia
Goldfields
region, Western Australia
Bundaberg,
Hervey Bay region, Queensland
Cape
York, Queensland, and
the
Northern Territory.
According
to the Dept.
of Social Services on 31
January 2022:
In
the Ceduna region, the Goldfields region and the East Kimberley
region the program applies to all people who receive a working age
welfare payment. People receiving the Age Pension may volunteer to
participate.
In
the Bundaberg and Hervey Bay region, the program applies to people
aged 35 and under who receive JobSeeker Payment, Youth Allowance (Job
seeker), Parenting Payment (Partnered) and Parenting Payment
(Single). People over 35 years of age or receiving the Age Pension
may volunteer to participate.
In
the Cape York region in Queensland, the program applies to those who
the Family Responsibilities Commission have referred. People on Age
Pension may choose to volunteer to participate.
In
the Northern Territory, the program applies to Income Management
participants who have chosen to transition to Cashless Debit Card as
well as eligible income support recipients who have volunteered for
the program. If you live in the Northern Territory, you can now
transition to the Cashless Debit Card on the same day.
According
to Services
Australia on 22 January 2022:
You
will have access to 20 per cent (50 per cent for most participants
in the Northern Territory and Cape York) of your welfare payment
that you can withdraw as cash to use in circumstances where only
cash is accepted, for example at school canteens, fetes and farmers
markets.
The
Cashless Debit Card works at businesses that accept eftpos or Visa.
The only time the card cannot be used is for the purchase of
alcohol, gambling products, cash-like gift cards or to withdraw cash. Or
for any
other goods or services determined by the Commonwealth of Australia to be banned goods/services in accordance with the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999
(Cth).
