Bundaberg, Hervey Bay cashless debit card extended for two years

Queensland’s cashless welfare card trial will continue following a lengthy midnight debate in Federal Parliament.

The cashless welfare card trial in Bundaberg and Hervey Bay will continue after an 11th hour bid to keep it going in Parliament late last night.

The trial, which has been running in Bundaberg for almost two years, was either to be made permanent or come to an end on January 1, depending on the outcome of the vote.

Crossbench Senator Rex Patrick, who held the deciding vote, on Wednesday night revealed he would vote against making the scheme permanent.

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Social Services Minister Senator Anne Ruston says there is more work to do to convince the Senate of the welfare card trial. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

“The data is not there to support that the card achieves what it’s intended to achieve,” he said.

But in debate which ran until midnight, the government succeeded in an 11th hour bid to extend the trial for another two years instead.

Social Services Minister Anne Ruston said the government was committed to providing certainty to the communities where the card was operating.

“This amendment does not change our commitment, it simply means we have more work to do to in the future to convince the Parliament they should support this program on a permanent basis too,” Senator Ruston said.

The cashless debit card (CDC) currently applies to anyone under the age of 35 on JobSeeker payments, formerly Newstart, in trial sites like Bundaberg and Hervey Bay.

It quarantines 80 per cent of their payments to the card, which can only be spent at approved outlets, to ensure the money cannot be spent on drugs, alcohol or gambling.

It was strongly supported in the region by Hinkler MP Keith Pitt, who had described it as a “tough, but necessary” policy.

Hinkler MP Keith Pitt says the CDC is “tough but necessary”. NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

Labor senator Malarndirri McCarthy said the Federal Government had failed to justify making the trials permanent, describing the policy as “unjust and un-Australian”.

The Hinkler trial was the first trial outside an predominantly Indigenous area.