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Social Security (Administration) Amendment (Continuation of Cashless Welfare) Bill 2020 on its way to Governor-General for assent - list of all MPs and Senators who voted for the bill

 

This is a complete list of those Australian MPs and Senators who voted for Social Security (Administration) Amendment (Continuation of Cashless Welfare) Bill 2020.

The bill passed in the House of Representatives unamended on 7 December 2020 by a vote of 62 to 61.

Two days later on  9 December 2020 the bill passed in the Senate by 34 votes to 33, with the following government amendments:

• Persons resident in the Northern Territory will only transition from the Basics Card to the Cashless Debit Card on a voluntary basis.

• The Cashless Debit Card remains a trial scheme with an end date of 31 December 2022. However persons in the Northern Territory who transition to the Cashless Debit Card still remain eligible for income management after that date.

Senator Patrick's amendment's to the bill were also passed. They can be found here. 

The Morrison Government managed to keep the Cashless Debit Card trial alive but lost the battle to immediately turn it into a permanent program.

Senators (grouped by state) who voted to pass the bill:

Matt O’Sullivan (Liberal Western Australia), Ben Small (Liberal Western Australia), DeanSmith (Liberal Western Australia), Michaelia Cash (Liberal Western Australia), Slade Brockman (Liberal Western Australia), Paul Scarr (Liberal Western Australia), Linda Reynolds (Liberal Western Australia),

Sam McMahon (Country Liberal Party Northern Territory),

Alex Antic (Liberal South Australia), Andrew McLachlan (Liberal South Australia), Anne Ruston (Liberal South Australia), David Fawcett (Liberal South Australia), Simom Birmingham (Liberal South Australia),

Amanda Stoker (Liberal Queensland), Susan McDonald (Nationals Queensland), James McGrath (Liberal Queensland), Pauline Hanson (One Nation Queensland), Malcolm Roberts (One Nation Queensland),

Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (Liberal NSW), Jim Molan (Liberal NSW), Andrew Bragg (Liberal NSW), Perrin Davey (Nationals NSW), Marise Payne (Liberal NSW),

Scott Ryan (Liberal Victoria), Bridget McKenzie (Nationals Victoria), James Paterson (Liberal Victoria), Jane Hume (Liberal Victoria), David Van (Liberal Victoria), Sarah Henderson (Liberal Victoria),

Eric Abetz (Liberal Tasmania), Wendy Askew (Liberal Tasmania), Claire Chandler (Liberal Tasmania), Jonathon Duniam (Liberal Tasmania), Richard Colbeck (Liberal Tasmania).

Note: After publicly opposing the bill Senator Stirling Griff (Centre Alliance South Australia) failed to remain in the Chamber for the final vote.

Members of the Australian House of Representatives (in alphabetical order) who voted for the bill:

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).

Note: After publicly opposing the bill Liberal MP for Bass Brigit Archer failed to remain in the Chamber for the final vote and, after speaking in support of the bill in the final debate Nationals MP for Page Kevin Hogan sought refuge in a pairing arrangement and did not vote.

BACKGROUND

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

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)

With so many NSW Northern Rivers businesses relying on the JobKeeper wage subsidies to retain staff in the face of loss of trade due to the COVID-19 pandemic the regional economy may decline further now Morrison's JobKeeper cuts start to kick in

The first federal government JobKeeper subsidised wage payments were received by employers in the first week of May 2020 and by 21 July 2020 est. 3.5 million Australians were receiving this payment.

By 22 July 2020 the percentage of NSW Northern Rivers Businesses relying on JobKeeper Payments by Local Government Area were:

Byron 60.39%

Tweed 47.79%

Ballina 39.56%

Clarence Valley 34.52%

Lismore 35.05%

Richmond Valley 27.45%

Kyogle 21.3%

In July the JobKeeper subsidised wage was $1,500 (before tax) per fortnight

The JobKeeper payment rate is now as follows…...

Australian Treasury, Economic Response to the Coronavirus - Extension of the JobKeeper Payment, 10 August 2020:

The JobKeeper Payment rate

From 28 September 2020 to 3 January 2021, the JobKeeper Payment rates will be:

• $1,200 per fortnight for all eligible employees who were working in the business or notfor-profit for 20 hours or more a week on average in the four weeks of pay periods before either 1 March 2020 or 1 July 2020, and for eligible business participants who were actively engaged in the business for 20 hours or more per week on average; and

• $750 per fortnight for other eligible employees and business participants.

From 4 January 2021 to 28 March 2021, the JobKeeper Payment rates will be:

• $1,000 per fortnight for all eligible employees who were working in the business or notfor-profit for 20 hours or more a week on average in the four weeks of pay periods before either 1 March 2020 or 1 July 2020, and for business participants who were actively engaged in the business for 20 hours or more per week on average; and

• $650 per fortnight for other eligible employees and business participants.

Businesses and not-for-profits will be required to nominate which payment rate they are claiming for each of their eligible employees (or business participants).

The Commissioner of Taxation will have discretion to set out alternative tests where an employee or business participant’s hours were not usual during the February and/or June 2020 reference period (the period with the higher number of hours worked is to be used for employees with 1 March 2020 eligibility). For example, this will include where the employee was on leave, volunteering during the bushfires, or not employed for all or part of February or June 2020.

Guidance will be provided by the ATO where the employee was paid in non-weekly or non-fortnightly pay periods and in other circumstances the general rules do not cover.

The JobKeeper Payment will continue to be made by the ATO to employers in arrears.

Employers will continue to be required to make payments to employees equal to, or greater than, the amount of the JobKeeper Payment (before tax), based on the payment rate that applies to each employee. This is called the wage condition.

By the end of December 2020 it is possible that only around 1.2 million people will still be eligible to receive JobKeeper payments under the new rules and it is possible that up to 2.1 million additional people will have joined the ranks of the unemployed. With up to another 1 million without a job by March 2021.

If you are a welfare recipient in any shape of form - be afraid, be very afraid

It appears in his profound ignorance and overwhelming arrogance Australian Prime Minister and Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison intends to privatize the welfare safety net....... 

Patreon, “Testing the limits of welfare in the age of the Prosperity Gospel”, 9 September 2019, excerpt:

Morrison has a very particular view of how welfare should be approached. On one level, it is a sort of neoliberal/austerity view, entirely at one with the direction of government policy since the 1980s.

But it is more complex that. Morrison seems to want to move to what we might call a post-neoliberal approach, with welfare built around financial instruments such as so-called Social Interest Bonds (SIBs)…..

“To put it another way, there is no money in ending poverty, but there is profit to be had in meeting metrics that break 'the intergeneral cycle of poverty and disadvantage.'

Regardless, the whole approach ties in completely with Morrison's view that, 'welfare must become a good deal for investors' and that 'we must make it a good deal' (emphasis added).

That is to say, to be a good deal for investors, various forms of control and discipline must be enacted upon welfare recipients in order to help ensure targets are met and profits are realised via instruments like SIBs.

Drug testing and cashless welfare cards are two ways of doing that, and that is why Scott Morrison is advocating them. He is laying the groundwork for the introduction of instruments such as SIBs.

In the meantime, he is more than happy for the State to be an 'enforcer' without them.

Morrison Government continues to mislead concerning results of Indue Cashless Debit Card trials

“it is difficult to conclude whether there had been a reduction in social harm and whether the card was a lower cost welfare quarantining approach.” [Australian National Audit Office ANAO, The Implementation and Performance of the Cashless Debit Card Trial (Performance Audit Report, 1 of 2018-2019)]

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.....

His minister said.....

The Courier Mail, 29 August 2019:

YOUTH unemployment has dropped since the cashless welfare card was introduced to Bundaberg and Hervey Bay, while the number of people in the region on welfare has fallen at double the national rate. 

For the first time the impact of the controversial card can be revealed, as a push for the trial to be rolled out nationally intensifies. 

The trial was rolled out in the region in January this year, the first test sites outside predominantly indigenous communities. 

The card quarantines about 80 per cent of dole payments so they can’t be used for drugs, alcohol or gambling. Social Services Minister Anne Ruston, in Hervey Bay today, will reveal the number of people on Newstart or Youth Allowance has dropped. 

In Bundaberg people on the welfare payments dropped 8.7 per cent, or by 502 people, to 5277 recipients in the past year, while in Hervey Bay there has been a 10 per cent fall to 3482 recipients. 

This compares to a five per cent drop of people on Newstart or Youth Allowance nationally. Youth unemployment in the region has dropped from 19.8 per cent in January to 18.5 per cent last month. 

Senator Ruston said the region was “punching above its weight” with the significant reduction in people relying on welfare payments. 

“We believe the cashless debit card is supporting people to demonstrate personal responsibility for their finances, helping to encourage financial independence and addressing intergenerational welfare dependence,” she said. 

There are 5746 people in the region on the CDC, while about 700 people have come off the card, either because they found work or they were suspended from welfare payments for breaching the rules. 

Hinkler MP Keith Pitt said if the trial was successful it should be rolled out nationally for people under 35. [my yellow highlighting]

Siewert said......

Fraser Coast Chronicle, 3 September 2019: 

It was disappointing to see the government once again spread misinformation about the Cashless Debit Card in the Hinkler region. 

The government claims that unemployment has dropped in the Queensland trial site but they have used the data for the much larger region of Wide Bay as the basis for this claim. 

It’s like saying that unemployment has dropped in Canberra using the figures for the whole of NSW and I urge people to look more closely at their claims. 

Unemployment figures in the Wide Bay area dropped quite a bit before the trial started and have changed slightly since the card’s introduction and if you actually go and look at the raw data, they are clearly subject to seasonal variation. 

If government really has the evidence to prove it’s working, then release it.

If they are making these claims on data they have available it should be released for all to see. 

Communities are crying out for more support and services but instead community members are put on a card that makes life harder for them. 

The issues that this card is purported to address are complex and need individualised approaches to address. 

Despite the ANAO report saying there is no evidence of a reduction of social harm the government wants to continue to roll out the card. 

My office hears from people constantly who cannot pay their rent or bills using the card, who have problems with the card, who are not able to use cash economies like markets, second hand shops or op-shops to help them make ends meet. 

 RACHEL SIEWERT 
 Greens Senator for Western Australia
 [my yellow highlighting]

So is there an army of "Quiet Australians" backing the Morrison Coalition Government or is it just another political myth

The Morrison Coalition Government, its ministers, senators and MPs, have been making much of the notion that there is a large mass of citizens who quietly agree with them on every subject they discuss and every policy position they hold. 

This survey suggests that rather than there being a large number of head nodders in the community, these so-called 'quiet' Australians may broadly disagree with the Morrison Government on issues involving treatment of vulnerable people and low income households - especially when it comes to the Newstart Allowance level of payment. 

Essential Report, Australian survey, 8 August 2019 by clarencegirl on Scribd

  http://www.scribd.com/document/421336946/Essential-Report-Australian-survey-8-August-2019

Morrison Government intends to go ahead with the drug testing of welfare recipients

"…the bill is not written like a research trial, it's written as policy by stealth…and if this is about introducing new policy, then…it misunderstands the nature of drug problems and drug dependence." [UNSW Professor Lisa Maher, Committee Hansard, 23 April 2018, p.18] 

According to data.gov.au, between January 2017 and and December 2018 there were 5.82 million Australian citizens receiving Newstart Allowance unemployment benefits for all or part of that period.

Based on the New Zealand experience of widespread drug testing, it is highly likely that just one year into any Australian scheme which regularly drug tests Newstart recipients running costs would not be less than $3.27 billion.

When you add those receiving Youth Allowance,  then drug testing and intervention costs would run even higher.

Even the limited trial currently proposed by the Morrison Government would in all probability cost somewhere in the vicinity of $20 million in its first year.

In the health care sector there is almost universal condemnation of the Morrison Government's drug testing bill as being either unworkable in practice as a reliable drug detection scheme or ineffective as a method of medical intervention.

Indeed, it is reported that Clinical Associate Professor Adrian Reynolds, an expert in addiction medicine, has stated that the drug testing trial is 'unlikely to bring about any sustained changes in patients' drug use behaviours and may even be counterproductive.'

Nor does it appear that there is any solid evidence that such a testing regime actually assists unemployed people to either find work or successfully access treatment. 

Given how many drug or alcohol dependent individuals currently cannot get a timely appointment or find a inpatient bed in the est. 952 publicly funded drug & alcohol agencies across Australia and the fact that the majority of both private and publicly funded agencies are in large metropolitan areas, this lack of evidence comes as no surprise.

Here is just one submission made to the Senate Inquiry into the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Drug Testing Trial) Bill 2018 in April 2018 by the peak medical practitioners organisation.

Social Services Legislation Amendment (Drug Testing Trial) Bill 2018 (Australian Parliament) by clarencegirl on Scribd

http://www.scribd.com/document/420530854/Social-Services-Legislation-Amendment-Drug-Testing-Trial-Bill-2018-Australian-Parliament

Australian Prime Minister Morrison's relentless hammering of the poor and vulnerable set to continue?

The Guardian, 7 July 2019:

The Morrison government says it remains committed to a plan criticised as “brutal” to dock the welfare of those who repeatedly fail to pay state fines, and may still proceed with cuts to student payments claimed by the unemployed, the disabled and sole parents.

The Coalition introduced a number of welfare measures in 2017 which drew the ire of social service groups but ultimately never came into effect because the government failed to win the support of the Senate or the states and territories.

Guardian Australia reported this month that internal documents suggested the contentious plan to drug test welfare recipients was not a priority, but the government has insisted it remains on its agenda.

Other welfare proposals from the last parliament included about $90m in cuts to student payments, legislation to automatically deduct rent from welfare recipients living in social housing, which critics said could put family violence survivors at risk, and a plan to impose the “demerit point” compliance scheme on those doing the remote work-for-the-dole program, which has seen payment suspensions surge…...

But the spokesman did confirm the government still intended to create the scheme to automatically dock 15% of payments for those who have unpaid fines…...

“The Encouraging Lawful Behaviour of Income Support Recipients proposal remains government policy and requires legislative approval,” Ruston’s spokesman said…..

Labor had opposed the cuts to the $208-a-year pensioner education supplement and the $32.20-a week education entry payment, which are intended to help low-income people with the cost of study.

The changes would save the budget $95m over five years, but the opposition said the policy would hurt people with disability, carers, sole parents and the unemployed.

The Australian Council of Social Service has previously lashed the plan to dock welfare payments from people with court-ordered state fines as “particularly brutal”.

The proposal would automatically dock 15% of an income support payment, but critics say it will push vulnerable people into homelessness.

Welfare groups including the Australian Unemployed Workers Union have also expressed grave concerns about a plan announced last year to link Newstart recipients to farm work using the national database.

The unemployed would face losing their welfare payments for four weeks if they turned down what the government described as a “suitable job without reasonable excuse”.

The department of employment confirmed the policy would begin in July next year.

Then there is this.....

Encouraginglawful behaviour of income support recipients 2018 Budget