The federal government wants聽to roll out its cashless debit card (CDC) across the country, but the Senate refuses聽to agree. Activists are continuing to organise to get the trials stopped.
The Social Security (Administration) Amendment (Continuation of Cashless Welfare) Bill 2020聽set out to 鈥渞emove the trial parameters to establish the Cashless Debit Card (CDC) as an ongoing program鈥.
It failed, but the trial was extended at the end of last year to Ceduna in South Australia,聽the聽East Kimberly region and聽Goldfields in Western Australia and Bundaberg and Hervey Bay in Queensland.聽 The whole of the Northern Territory and聽Cape York are also slated to be placed on cashless welfare payments.
The CDC program forces welfare recipients, including disability and aged pensioners, to accept compulsory income management, administered by the private financial services corporation Indue Limited.
It means that 80% of the Centrelink payment is 鈥渜uarantined鈥.
Rent, utilities and other direct debits are paid by Indue which, in turn, is paid up to $10,000 per "client" by the federal govenrment to administer the scheme.
For those with a聽CDC, most legal rights and protections, including consumer and social security rights, are restricted.
Instead, clients need to negotiate with Indue whenever changes are made to debits or they have access problems.
Getting 鈥減ermission鈥 to transfer money to pay cash for, say, winter firewood, school excursions or buying fresh vegetables from a farmer鈥檚 market could become a long, drawn-out affair.
These complicated financial arrangements with Indue make it harder to manage family budgets, which almost inevitably leads to a decline in mental health.
Some research in CDC trial areas have revealed and a higher rate of youth suicide.
According to an in May, the federal Department of Social Services鈥 figures on the card鈥檚 effect in Ceduna said that CDC welfare recipients 鈥渉ad been prevented from spending about $220,000 on alcohol over five years鈥. It also said that 鈥$70,000 were blocked by the cards in bottle shops between April 2016 and April 2021鈥.
Luke Greenacre, a researcher from Monash University聽who studied the impact of the CDC trials, said the figures are not so dramatic when the number of participants is taken into account.
鈥淭here鈥檚 about 500 people give or take on the card, and this was over a five-year period,鈥 he said.聽鈥淪o $220,000,聽when you actually divide that by the number of people and over the number of years, that's about $80 per person, per year.
聽鈥淚鈥檓 willing to bet that鈥檚 more likely the accidental use of the card. They've reached for the wrong card in their wallet when they've been trying to buy a six-pack like everybody tries to buy a six-pack every now and then," Greenacre said.聽
The supposed benefits touted by the government to justify the scheme have largely been anecdotal. Also, its supporting research .
Research from earlier trials of cashless welfare cards showed that the CDC will .
Janet Burstall of Living Incomes For Everyone said the CDC card has聽become a barrier to renting, as real estate agents and private landlords聽know the difficulties associated with Indue. 鈥淭he reality of the cashless debit cards is far more horrifying than many of us realise,鈥 she said.
Kathryn Wilkes of No Cashless Debit Card Australia warned the scheme will adversely impact on women in abusive relationships. "For those women from lower socio-economic backgrounds, it will be harder to escape domestic violence",聽she said.
Women will not be able to access their money in an emergency, to rent a hotel room for example, if they are stuck on the Indue card, which is not accepted by many businesses.
The Australian Council for Social Services, which was partially successful in pushing for the JobSeeker allowance to be raised, has yet to shift its focus to stopping the CDC expansion plans.
The 鈥渞obodebt鈥 scheme, which fleeced between $721 million and $1.5 billion from 470,000 people using an automated data matching scheme, shows how dangerous the partial privatisation of the social security system is: it puts lives on the line.
The CDC will put more vulnerable communities at risk. It is a form of economic apartheid that will only further reinforce social divisions and exacerbate socioeconomic disadvantage.
[Sign an to MPs to stop the聽CDC trial by July 21. For more information and to get involved visit聽, and . Watch an , organised by Living Incomes For Everyone, featuring Kathryn Wilkes and Amanda Smith.]