Poor form on federal government bid to ram through cashless debit card law change for the NT

THE federal government’s move to transition the NT from the BasicsCard to the cashless debit card, by rushing legislation through parliament within weeks of floating the idea, should be viewed with suspicion.

A CDC indue card. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

ANY move by a government to rush legislation through parliament within weeks of floating the idea should be immediately viewed with suspicion.

The federal government’s move to transition the NT from the BasicsCard to the cashless debit card is one of those instances.

The laws were introduced on October 8, and sent to a committee for investigation as is process.

Just one public hearing into the laws, which will impact 23,000 Territorians and thousands of others across the country, was held.

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The federal government has failed to release publicly the $2.5m research study it commissioned into the impact of the cashless welfare card.

If the commonwealth feels so passionately about the program, why not produce, for all to see, the science that it claims supports the permanent roll out of the cashless debit card?

Anecdotal evidence, which is rife in the Liberal-only Senate report, is not nearly enough. Correlation doesn’t mean causation.

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By way of example, it would be easy to claim that less people are being eaten by crocs because there are less crocs around without taking into account CrocWise measures, the time of year, or perhaps the new tasty whales available (apologies to Humpy).

Before going into the disservice that will be done to our First Nations peoples, it is plain to see that these laws and the process has not been good enough.

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