No party in Ceduna

On 19 August 2015, the LNP government introduced the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Debit Card Trial) Bill 2015. In the House of Representatives between 19 August and 15 September 2015 this was read 3 times and subsequently passed onto the Senate. It was read there on 16 September, 13 and 14 October 2015, and assented 12 November 2015.

The Department of Social Services (DSS) said “The Australian Government is looking at the best ways to support communities where a lot of people are on welfare, and alcohol, gambling and drug use are causing harm.” DSS also said that “people who receive payments from Centrelink like Newstart, Disability Support Pension, Parenting Payment and Carers Payment” would be involved. 

In January this year The Australian reported that this new system was proposed by mining magnate Andrew Forrest in 2014 in his review of the welfare system. It seems that “80 per cent of a person’s government payment would be ­quarantined to a bank card that could not be used to buy alcohol and gambling products, nor ­converted to cash”. Assistant Minister for Social Services Alan Tudge, who was overseeing this trial, thought that the card would “prove the measure can be the ‘solution’ to alcohol-induced social harm”. 

This week saw Ceduna in South Australia put on a Cashless Debit Card trial without any agreement or support from beneficiaries in this area. 

I’m in Brisbane. I’m on DSP. I have no idea if that card will be here, but I have a bad feeling. What has this government done to take people off their cash and give them a card? What does the government think the people have done? Or what do they think they have done?

I am very much concerned that the government is shoving real people off the real benefits and making decisions that real people should be able to make. Up until now I have been aware of what is going on with the “job support” companies who work with beneficiaries, but I wonder if anyone realises that what is paid to these companies, and what is now paid to the cashless card, Indue, are digging a very, very deep hole into this country’s economy. I have heard too many people blaming the beneficiaries for whatever happens in this country, yet they don’t – or won’t – blame the extremely well-paid people in the government who simply don’t think.

I Googled for information globally to find out which country paid and how much, and which country would use a card similar to the one trialling in Ceduna. Most of those using a card were, for many years, viewed as “third-rate countries”: 

   India – ration card 

   India – health card 

   Philippines - beneficiary card for after storm

   South Africa – SASSA Debit MasterCard for beneficiaries

   Kenya – food aid card 

   African – cash transfer cards 

I found European countries which supported their beneficiaries and didn’t use a cashless card, for instance:

   Germany – good set up for social security and employment benefits 

   Italy – unemployed registration card (benefits paid as 30% of previous 3 mths) 

   Sweden – no card, unemployed paid through their insurance 

Unfortunately, three western countries seem to be using cashless cards, including: 

   NZ – Work & Income payment cards; 

   USA – SNAP cards for beneficiaries for food – not essential;

   and Australia 

USA says $US981 a month is poverty line. That is $1,283 in AUD. Australian unemployment benefits are paid below this line so are in poverty. Newstart is $523.40 fortnightly - $ 1,134 per month – and is 88% of the poverty line set in USA. Payments can include rent allowance but $129.40 is the maximum every fortnight for a single person.

In 2014 the Australian National Commission of Audit wrote a report about unemployed benefits minimum wage (in the last two years these figures may have changed dramatically). The NOAC reported on Potential areas for reform and mentioned “cash bonus payments, relocation assistance and the Job Commitment Bonus”. I have no idea if any of these still exist. 

They looked at the level of minimum wages for people for work, and came to a suggestion that Newstart income should be set at 44% of that. The suggestion of increasing with the CPI recommended “less than 1 percentage point” for 10 years, but with no mention or understanding that less percentage would reflect in the future.

In March 2015 ABC interviewed Bill Shorten, ALP leader, about the increase of unemployment supposedly caused by the minimum wages increased. This was updated in March 2016, and ABC said there was “more to the story”. Personally, I agree with Shorten. There is no issues with the minimum wage which result in unemployment increases. What I believe happens on unemployment comes from overseas ‘employers’ who take on their own countrymen in our country and pay them $2 a day! That causes people to be made unemployed. That is the excuse why minimum wage should be reduced. And that, I believe, causes people to be on ridiculously low benefits which the government is ‘trialling’ with a cashless debit card. Why? 

The Australian National University, based in Canberra, provided a report (undated but included a 2006 graph) where they said that “[s]ince most workers would obtain a wage higher than the minimum anyway, the effect of imposing a minimum wage is to increase the wages only of those who would otherwise receive the lowest wages. The effect on the average wage is small and, thus, the impact on total employment and unemployment is also small.” 

Back to Ceduna, where the Newstart-DisabilitySupportPension-ParentingPayment-Carers payment receivers have been issued with the cashless card and are part of the trial. I would like to ask every person in Centrelink, every person in the Ceduna council, and every person who agreed to this trial: do you understand the worst scenario of the cashless cards? Back towards the start of this blog earlier I wrote “I wonder if anyone realises that what is paid to these companies, and what is now paid to the cashless card...are digging a very, very deep hole into this country’s economy.” I do still wonder. I don’t believe everyone knows. 

I don’t believe that every person cares.