‘An absolute shame’: Federal Opposition slams cashless card axe

The Federal Government has voted to scrap the controversial cashless welfare card, with thousands of people off the card from Tuesday, October 4. The scheme had been in place in remote areas across Australia, including Kununurra, Wyndham and surrounding communities, since 2016. It quarantines 80 per cent of a welfare recipient’s income which cannot be spent on alcohol or gambling or withdrawn as cash. The Senate voted to repeal the Bill late on Tuesday night, with Labor securing votes from the Greens and independent senators David Pocock and Jacqui Lambie. As of October 4, welfare recipients in four locations — the East Kimberley, Ceduna, Goldfields and Bundaberg-Harvey Bay — have been able to come off the card. The Opposition voted against scrapping the card, with Durack MP Melissa Price claiming the move would “unleash an avalanche of drugs and alcohol into the most vulnerable communities”. Her comments were echoed by Northern Territory Senator Jacinta Price, who called the move “an absolute shame” as thousands of people came off the scheme on Tuesday. “Simply ripping it out from underneath vulnerable individuals is not good enough without at least some sort of proper transition in place,” she told 2GB radio on Tuesday. “We don‘t know what it’s going to do to them, what the consequences will be.” Ms Price said the Government did not understand the pressures of traditional Aboriginal culture. “What they don‘t understand is that your family has access to everything you own, we have a demand share economy,” she said. “So anything that your addicted family member wants of you, you’re expected to give it without saying no. It’s considered very rude and inappropriate to say no to your family. “This card has been used as a tool for vulnerable people in those communities as a way of being able to say no to family who put pressure on them to take their welfare payments from them.” The move was a strong topic of the May election, with the Opposition leader at the time, Anthony Albanese, claiming the Morrison Government was forcing pensioners on to the program. However, Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney said the move had been carefully considered. “This commitment was an election policy . . . we took extremely seriously,” she said. “The cashless debit card diminishes people’s self-worth, it’s discriminatory and it’s arbitrary. It was a piece of technology that was used by a private organisation for profit.” The card is expected to be axed completely by early next year, when it is removed from all other sites such as the Northern Territory and the Cape York and Doomadgee regions.