The Northern Territory’s loudest voice against the controversial Cashless Debit Card has criticised federal minister for Families and Social Services Anne Ruston over the “appalling” treatment of Territorians after it was revealed she failed to read a $2.5 million draft analysis commissioned by her department.
NT Senator Malandirri McCarthy called out the government this week during Senate estimates, saying it had not listened to Indigenous voices in opposition to the CDC, and was flouting fair process in failing to read a multi-million-dollar report on trial sites.
Minister Ruston says she hasn't read the University of Adelaide summary report on the Cashless Debit Card. Regardless, the Morrison Government has introduced legislation to end the trials and make the Cashless Debit Card permanent. #Estimates
— malarndirri mccarthy (@Malarndirri19) October 28, 2020
The Cashless Debit Card is being trialed in four regions; Ceduna in South Australia, the East Kimberly and Goldfields region of Western Australia, and Bundaberg and Hervey Bay in Queensland – and is expected to be rolled out across the Northern Territory if it passes through the senate.
It works by quarantining a portion of a person’s welfare payments – about 80 per cent – and blocks cash withdrawals or the purchase of alcohol, tobacco or gambling products. The remainder is paid into their bank account as cash.
The CDC was met by praise in Canberra during parliament sittings last month, with federal MP Trevor Evans saying the program is “showing positive results”.
But Ms McCarthy told ABC Radio Darwin on Friday morning, the government’s decision to push the CDC onto more than 22,000 Territorians without reading the draft report was “absolutely outrageous”.
“It has gone ahead and made this decision to roll the cashless debit card out across the NT without even looking at whether it’s actually worked,” she said.
“It is appalling, the people of the Northern Territory are once again being treated with contempt.
“It is really quite overwhelming the evidence that has been coming forward from the people in the Northern Territory and organisations who have rejected the card and have said this is not going to work.”
Submissions call for the Cashless Debit Card to be abolished
Change the Record, an Indigenous led justice coalition of legal, health and family violence prevention experts, said it firmly opposed the CDC in a submission to the Inquiry into the Cashless Debit Card Bill 2020.
Not only did they say the program would be an infringement on people’s basic human rights and an invasion of privacy, they said the practical difficulties of using the card as well as the stress and shame associated with its use would be detrimental.
Sophie Trevitt, chief executive of Change the Record – an Aboriginal led justice coalition, said there was no evidence the program would work, and asserted that the cashless debit card would contribute to the “negative impacts that paternalistic, discriminatory and stigmatising policies have on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples”.
The submission highlighted a study of Compulsory Income Management in greater Shepparton and Playford, Victoria, published this year which found “little change” in “the significant ongoing impact of drug and alcohol use in their communities” since the introduction of the Cashless Welfare Card.
“There has been little change in unemployment figures in trial sites,” Ms Trevitt said.
“The Cashless Welfare Card already targets Indigenous communities. It is our fear that an already discriminatory scheme will have an even greater deleterious impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the context of the global pandemic and COVID-19 restrictions.”
‘Expensive, paternalistic, not based on the evidence’: APO NT
Aboriginal Peak Organisations NT spokesman John Paterson in a submission to the inquiry said he is urging the committee to axe the bill.
“It is expensive, paternalistic, not based on the evidence and is a top-down blanket approach that will not address the real needs, or complex systemic issues, impacting Aboriginal people living in the Northern Territory,” he said.
He said imposing the cashless debit card would “fundamentally impinge on the equal enjoyment of human rights and freedoms” and that conditional income management is a “vehicle for disempowerment and continuing the stigmatisation and trauma of Aboriginal people”.
“Rather than building capacity and independence, the program has had the opposite effect, by further entrenching an individual’s dependence on welfare.,” he said.
“Yet, the Government is heralding ‘this bill…will deliver a real difference to the lives of all Australians’.”
If the Federal Government don’t want their money going straight to Alcohol and drugs, so be it! Look at the current mayhem in the communites now with the extra COVID payments is causing! The extra money means more alcohol and drugs are being purchased. Does the Lucky-She-Has-A-Job Senator have a opinion about that?
I have already replied to this comment but it has disappeared for some reason. There is no evidence to back your statement. Equally there is no evidence that backs that the CDC card has been effective or achieved any of its objectives. In fact legislative frame work already exists for those with addiction issues. The reality is the CDC has failed in every way possible. It is not like any other debit card it is third party management. It is not the compassionate conservatism or budget tool the government claims. In fact evidence from independent studies show the card does more harm than good. It is a breech of human rights according to the human rights commission, it has no legal, social security or consumer protection. To broadly apply this to all income support payments is an appalling waste of tax payers money. It is not only discriminatory but disadvantages already vulnerable people by removing choice and financial autonomy.
I am a Veteran and actually served in the Army. As did my father and both Grandfathers as well.
One in WWI who had to renounce his First Nation Heritage in order to qualify for Home Loans and War Pension.
I also own 2 houses. Have 5 adult children all with families of their own.
Yet I will be forced onto this draconian card as I am unable to manage my legally entitled miserly pension I get?
This is unconscionable and also was Illegal under our Social Security Legislation passed in 1947, until this government passed a bill changing the Act.
Plus this card costs nearly as much as a person gets in benefits. But we are expected to accept that it is cost effective? Oh Please.
All it has done is lined the pockets of LNP supporters who own the company.
Then we find out the Minister spent $2 million on a report, but then did not even read it as it showed the card in its true light.
This card needs to be STOPPED and needs to be STOPPED now.
You are spot on, Senator McCarthy. It is absolutely outrageous! For Ruston to say the Adelaide Uni report was never meant as the premise to continue the card or not is ridiculous! A trial is a trial. A test to see if something is working. An evaluation informs as to whether the trial has been a success or failure. All previous reports, when read in full and in context, have shown the card to not be working. I’m sure the Adelaide Uni evaluation shows the same thing. If the evaluation did say the trials were a success, Ruston would be screaming it from the hilltops, not hiding it.
Thank you Senator for standing up for the vulnerable, for giving a voice to the voiceless. This card is against human rights, it is both disempowering and punitive. Peer reviewed studies have indicated it does more harm that good. This is not practical love in action as claimed by the liberal party, nor is it a budgeting tool, it is cruel and worse than that it removes financial autonomy, independence and choice. It takes away legal protections and it does nothing to address the issues the gov claims it prevents. The Indue card is a failure.