Despite fierce debate among politicians over the past week in determining whether or not the cashless welfare program would be made permanent, reactions from community leaders to an extension of the card's trial have been more nuanced.
Key points:
- Trials of a controversial cashless welfare program will be extended for another two years
- There has been a mixed response from the community with views ranging from positivity to "betrayal"
- Many are waiting on the findings of a $2.5-milion University of Adelaide report into the card
But questions have been raised about what difference, if any, the extension of the trial will make to final decisions on its permanency.
Under the Cashless Debit Card program, 80 per cent of an individual's welfare payments are quarantined on a card that cannot be used to purchase alcohol or gambling products.
The Government's original plan was to make the card permanent in Ceduna in South Australia, the East Kimberley and Goldfields regions of WA, and the Bundaberg and Hervey Bay region of Queensland.
After failing to win support, it was instead agreed trials at these four sites would be extended for another two years.
Mixed feelings of positivity and betrayal
On the ground, users of the card have had mixed responses to the news.
In Western Australia's Goldfields region, trial participant Sylvia Asusaar has been fighting against the scheme since it was introduced to the Goldfields in 2018.
Her group No Cashless Debit Card Kalgoorlie has 830 members but also links with about 12 similar groups across Australia.
She is a single mother and cares for her son who has an intellectual disability.
"There’s a lot of things you can’t do. There are a lot of fresh fruit and veg markets that require cash. If you’re renting privately, a lot of people don’t want to deal with [the card]. Even sometimes hospital parking won’t take the card."
She said she felt betrayed that they had been left without a firm decision for another two years.
"Thousands of us [trial participants] sat there and we watched the live feed of the Senate debate and there was a lot of anxiety, there was anger, there was betrayal."
Not all on the card agree.
Miriuwung Gajerrong elder Ted Carlton, from Kununurra in WA, said the card, which is colloquially known as the 'white card', had made a difference in his life.
"I am on the card, but I'm also doing other work too, and I think it's a useful thing — it helped me to pay rent," he said.
"I think the white card sort of helps at least because people don't have the opportunity to spend money on bad stuff, like alcohol, and at least now they have the opportunity to spend money on food and sensible stuff they need for camp and also kids' clothes.
He said he knew of flaws with the card, with people in the community finding ways to get around the system by getting other people to pay for shopping on their cashless card, and refunding the restricted person the cash.
But he said overall he felt it had positive outcomes.
Questions raised over 'trial' benefit
Academic Skye Akbar, who participated in a study by the University of South Australia and Monash University looking into the impacts of the scheme on participant behaviour, said she was concerned some data wasn't considered during the assessment.
"The trial started in 2016 and so it's difficult to understand why there's not enough information after four years to make an evidence based decision and make sure the Government is spending this money accountably," she said.
"The study that we did was as comprehensive as we could possibly manage — we did spend years of our lives looking at this, thinking about it morning, noon and night.
"There's no reason why this scheme couldn't be opt-in.
"I'm not sure why it has to be either compulsory or not at all, it's creating a false dichotomy for people."
The study she worked on found the CDC had very little impact on the problem behaviours it was designed to target in the trial area of Ceduna in South Australia.
"It [the policy] hasn't achieved what they said it would — I just don't think this is the solution they were looking for," Dr Akbar said.
That research is separate to the $2.5milion University of Adelaide report, commissioned by the Federal Government, which has been finalised but not yet publicly released.
The results of that study are something Shire of Wyndham East Kimberley president David Menzel is keeping an eye on closely.
He said the council would remain supportive of the card, so long as it was strongly supported by data from the University of Adelaide.
"As a shire we're fully supportive of a trial of the cashless welfare card," he said.
"And I think the fact it didn't get up as a permanent fixture probably reflects the fact we're all probably missing a little bit of data which we've been expecting for some time now.
"Previous to COVID-19 we had a fair bit of engagement with the University of Adelaide who are tasked with coming up with a really good analysis of the impacts of the card.
He said the shire was basing its conditional support on anecdotal evidence from around the region.
More wrap-around services needed
When it was first introduced, the Federal Government committed to funding a host of wrap-around health and social services to ease the transition onto the card.
East Kimberley community leader Des Hill said while yearly funding commitments were appreciated, the Government needed to provide more certainty around ongoing projects and services.
"$1.6 million between Kununurra and Wyndham is not a lot of money for wrap-around services considering the impact that it did have at the start," he said.
Over time, Mr Hill said the East Kimberley community had broadly come to accept the use of the card after nearly four years of operation.
"First-hand, people from around the community will say, 'well I don't like the card because it impacts me', but in the same breath they'll turn around and say, 'I think the card's a good thing because my grandkids have got clothes, they've got food and they're going to school, so my daughter should stay on it'," he said.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiX2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTEyLTEwL21peGVkLXJlc3BvbnNlLXRvLWNhc2hsZXNzLWRlYml0LWNhcmQtZXh0ZW5zaW9uLzEyOTcxNjI20gEnaHR0cHM6Ly9hbXAuYWJjLm5ldC5hdS9hcnRpY2xlLzEyOTcxNjI2?oc=5
2020-12-10 08:13:00Z
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