We must never again allow a cashless welfare card

Peter Dutton is calling for the reintroduction of the cashless welfare card, blaming it’s scrapping on the rise in alcohol-related violence in Alice Springs and Indigenous communities.

Dutton is not basing his assertions on facts. He is using a social crisis for political purposes to incite emotions against Aboriginal people.

He has singled out the problem as being one that concerns Aboriginal people only, and seems to be saying that the problem can be controlled by regaining control over Australia’s Indigenous people.

In fact, alcohol-related crime and domestic violence are widespread across the wider community, not just amongst Indigenous people. By singling out Aboriginal people, Dutton is once again trying to create division.

The problems in Alice Springs, and right across Australia, are part of an intergenerational crisis, centuries in the making. They were caused by 200 years of failed government policies concerning the Aboriginal people.

Dutton wants to introduce the cashless welfare card to all Australians receiving social security payments, not just Indigenous people, but is using them as the reason it needs to be introduced.

In doing so, he is ignoring the facts.

The Cashless Welfare Card was a system whereby 80% of a person’s social security payments were paid into a separate bank account administered by a private company, Indue, who then had control over how people could spend their money.

The cards could only be used at retail outlets that supported Mastercard or Visa payments and were approved by Indue. The government claimed it stopped people from buying alcohol or other products the government classified as “restricted.”

It did not achieve this. People could still buy restricted items from shops that sold a mixture of both restricted and approved goods, such as supermarkets that sell alcohol.

The card was introduced after a review into Indigenous employment and training programs by Andrew Forest and Marcia Langton suggested it. It is unclear how a person’s spending habits are related to a review into employment and training.

Langton later withdrew her support for the card, calling it “brutal” and an abuse of the poor. In the meantime, Indue were making a fortune out of it.

There was much criticism of the card from the National Audit Office and the media, who revealed that the system was flawed. Further, these organisations revealed that the government was releasing false information to make it look successful.

As example, Keith Pitt claimed that the cashless welfare card had led to a 10% reduction in youth unemployment in his electorate of Hinkler, yet no data could be found to support this statement in the national employment record.

Additionally, another review by the Australian National Audit Office in 2018 found that the trial results and outcomes were inadequately monitored, and therefore it was difficult to evaluate whether the trial had been successful in reducing social harms and delivering a cheaper welfare quarantining system.

Community leaders who had initially backed the card later came out to say it was a failure. Government reports into it’s supposed success also failed to report that there was actually an increase in crime in areas where it had been introduced.

There was also very little mention by the government or media about the increases in suicides and other negative outcomes in these areas.

A Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights report from 2017 had found that the cashless welfare card negatively impacts rights to social security, privacy, family, equality and non-discrimination, furthermore finding that there has been no compelling rationale for the scale of the card.

The initial review by Forest and Langton had stated that the card would only work if additional support services were also introduced. These support services never eventuated, which is part of the reason why the card failed.

Despite this, trials were extended on multiple occasions, and Indue’s profits continued to increase. The only ones that seemed to benefit from it were Indue, a donor to the LNP.

Overall, it can be seen that the card was a failure, and negatively impacted people’s lives. Albanese was right to scrap it, and all Australians should reject Dutton’s calls to reintroduce it.

Craig Hill is a Brisbane-based Social Justice Campaigner, Writer, Teacher and Business Consultant. He has campaigned for social justice in Australia, promoted human rights in China and worked with the homeless in Honolulu. He holds a Graduate Certificate in Education and a degree in Management.