The government will abolish the cashless debit card from four of Australia’s original testing sites, but an involuntary form of income management for welfare recipients will continue in the Northern Territory and far north Queensland.
Amendments to legislation repealing the card will be tabled in the Senate on Monday after Parliament’s suspension of debate delayed it.
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
The Albanian government expects the bill to pass the lower house on Wednesday, allowing some 17,300 cardholders to transition to a more relaxed scheme or leave it entirely on October 4.
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said the legislation would fulfill Labour’s election pledge to abolish the cashless debit card scheme.
“This package will provide real solutions for those communities that were subject to the cashless debit card trial and will provide long-term choice and certainty going forward,” Minister Rishworth said.
The Bill will make revenue management voluntary in the Bundaberg and Hervey Bay regions of Queensland, the Goldfields and East Kimberley in Western Australia and Ceduna in South Australia.
East Kimberley and Ceduna were the two original trial sites selected by the coalition government in 2016 for the card, which quarantined up to 80% of a person’s income so it could not be used to gamble, withdraw cash or buy alcohol and cigarettes.
The card drew criticism from human rights lawyers and organizations such as St Vincent de Paul, who said it dehumanized and unfairly targeted First Nations people, who made up 50% of cardholders.
For those who want to continue to manage earnings, the cashless card will be replaced by an “enhanced” card linked to Services Australia that will quarantine 50 per cent of their earnings and allow the other 50 to be withdrawn in cash.