Ceduna’s cashless welfare card in line for Federal Budget-funded overhaul to target spending on alcohol, gambling
Ceduna’s cashless welfare card is in line for an upgrade, to better target spending on gambling and alcohol, as the town’s former mayor welcomed news the system is here to stay.
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The cashless welfare card system used in Ceduna is in line for an overhaul, to better target the spending on gambling and alcohol that it aims to curb.
Under changes to the Federal Government’s card system, “product-level blocking” will be introduced over the next two years, to automatically decline transactions that include restricted items.
It comes as money was included in the Federal Budget to indefinitely extend the card system in Ceduna, where it was introduced in 2016.
Under the program, welfare recipients receive 80 per cent of their payments on a debit card.
Federal Families and Social Services Minister Ann Ruston said the changes replace the previous system of blocking entire merchants that sell restricted items or requiring merchants to manually identify cashless debit cards and block specific products.
“Once product-level blocking is enabled, the point of sale system scans customer baskets for restricted items,” Ms Ruston said.
“If any restricted items are present, then the PIN Pad will decline the payment request.
“This means that cashless debit card participants will be able to shop at even more businesses and improves how the (card) works for businesses.”
Major merchants are developing and implementing their own product-level blocking solutions, including Coles, Woolworths, Aldi, Australia Post, Big W, Kmart and Target.
“The Government is also working with small to medium merchants to introduce this technology and has successfully implemented a trial at around 10 merchants,” Ms Ruston said.
News that the cashless welfare card would remain in place in Ceduna has been welcomed by the town’s former mayor, Allan Suter, who served through its introduction.
However, Mr Suter says while the scheme resulted in a huge drop in local crime, incidents are once again rising amid an increase in welfare payments during the coronavirus pandemic, and more cash being accessible through recipients’ bank accounts. Extra superannuation withdrawals might also be contributing, he said.
Mr Suter said until six months ago, crime was noticeably down across the town, attributing this to the cashless card, which was “the best thing that ever happened here”.
But he said over recent months, there had been more incidents of intoxication, fights and children unsupervised on the streets at night.
“We’re very anxious that future cash injections remain with the card and not outside of it,” he said.
SA Council of Social Service chief executive Ross Womersley said the cashless card was “a blunt instrument”.
“It applies across a whole class of people, whether or not they’re good or bad at looking after themselves,” Mr Womersley said.
“We’ve always argued that people who need support managing their money get support to do that.
“There’s no doubt that there’s still a cohort of people that feel deeply frustrated about the fact that they’re subject to these measures despite the fact that they manage their money well.”
Ms Ruston said the scheme had “overwhelming” local support.
“(It) is becoming one of the most-sophisticated bank cards in Australia and supports welfare recipients to improve their financial literacy and reduce social harm,” she said.
“Providing ongoing funding gives certainty to participants and the wider communities and allows for further investment to enhance the technology which sits around the card to improve user experience.
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