Axing cashless debit card to leave ‘vacuum’

An Indigenous leader in the east Kimberly has accused the Albanese government of a planning ‘vacuum’ in its moves to abolish the Cashless Debit Card.

Wunan Foundation director Ian Trust.

An Indigenous leader in the east Kimberly has accused the Albanese government of a planning “vacuum” in its moves to abolish the Cashless Debit Card, saying an adequate replacement is needed for communities wanting to retain income management of welfare payments.

Wunan Foundation director Ian Trust echoed the concerns of the Families Responsibilities Commission in north Queensland about the “dire” impact on Aboriginal communities if there is no comparable replacement.

Mr Trust said while some communities were being given the choice to retain voluntary income management, there is no information from the government on how it would be administered or with what technology.

Federal bureaucrats have told a Senate hearing into the government’s planned abolition of the CDC that it will take at least a year to find a technologically equal replacement.

In July, the government passed legislation through the lower house to scrap the CDC program to meet a pre-election pledge.

Mr Trust said the CDC – which quarantines 80 per cent of a person’s welfare payments on a debit card to prevent them being spent on alcohol and gambling – had had a “big impact” in communities like Kununurra.

“It reduced the alcohol violence and the harassment of the elderly and vulnerable for cash when they used to go to the ATM,’’ he said.

“The cashless card is not a silver bullet but it is something, and we can build on it.

“But there is no plan as to what happens after the CDC is abolished, we are left in a vacuum. The government says if we want to go down that path of keeping income management that it has to be a community decision, but there’s no information about how they want us to arrive at that decision or what the replacement could be.”

Mr Trust said he shared the fears of FRC Commissioner Tammy Williams, who oversees income management in four Cape York communities and Doomadgee, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, about the possible return to the Basics Card, the predecessor of the CDC.

Ms Williams told The Australian on Monday the Basics Card was inferior and punished people because its use was so limited.

“We are looking at going back to a card that doesn’t match the technology of the CDC, and people will have limited access to their money, won’t be able to utilise online shopping or travel outside their communities,’’ she said.

The use of the CDC must end in December when the government’s contract with banker and card administrator Indue expires.

Mr Trust said the government was abolishing the CDC because it stigmatised people, but that the Basics Card was worse.

“A person can use a CDC like any other card at a supermarket but the other card you can only use at certain stores,” he said.

Social Services Ministers Amanda Rishworth did not address a question from The Australian about whether consideration would be given to temporarily extending the use of the CDC until an adequate replacement could be found. In a statement, she said the government was delivering on a pre-election commitment to abolish the card.