Kalgoorlie: cashless card ‘could save our town and our kids’

A Kalgoorlie businesswoman who expects to lose money when the welfare card is rolled out says it could save her town.

The main street of Kalgoorlie.

A Kalgoorlie businesswoman who expects to lose thousands of dollars a week in sales when the cashless welfare card is rolled out to the West Australian Goldfields has welcomed the trial as a potential saviour for her town and its children.

Newsagent Kerry Holman said she hoped the federal government plan would curb the drinking, violence and child neglect she sees every day from her shop on the main street.

“I call the police at least twice a day,” she said. “They are outside punching each other in the head, drinking from 8am. It’s disgusting.”

The card restricts welfare recipients to 20 per cent cash. The other 80 per cent of their Centrelink payments go on a cashless debit card that cannot be used at licensed premises, casinos or for gambling products such as Lotto tickets.

Announcing the trial in Kalgoorlie yesterday, Malcolm Turnbull said the consultation with Goldfields communities had been elaborate and respectful.

He described the card as an act of love. “Those people who criticise the cashless debit card should really reflect, I believe, in what you do would do with a friend. So this is an act of love, it’s an act of strength, of building, providing the support that will enable people better to look after themselves and their families, and of course that’s reflected in communities.”

Ms Holman said she cheered when she heard her town was getting the card. “People on welfare come into my shop on Centrelink payday and spend hundreds of dollars on scratchies — literally hundreds of dollars — and they are not looking after their kids properly,” she said.

“I feel so bad for the little kids; they are just running around, not at school, wearing a singlet in the middle of winter. The parents are terrible.”

Ms Holman, the sister of state Liberal MP and former Aboriginal Affairs minister Peter Collier, said Kalgoorlie was in crisis and she did not care if the card hurt her business. Main street businesses were on their knees anyway, she said, as people avoided the area due to the anti-social behaviour.

A study showed a significant drop in alcohol abuse and family violence where the card was trialled in the remote communities of East Kimberley and Ceduna, South Australia.