Families and Social Services Minister Anne Ruston says if the Cashless Debit Card (CDC) program is introduced in the Northern Territory, recipients will still get 50 per cent of their welfare payments in cash — despite Territorians saying they are being told otherwise.

Key points: ALPA's Liam Flanagan said he had been told about an 80-20 split on the CDC by Senator Jacqui Lambie

ALPA's Liam Flanagan said he had been told about an 80-20 split on the CDC by Senator Jacqui Lambie Mr Flanagan was concerned the card would be introduced at 50-50, then the ratio would change

Mr Flanagan was concerned the card would be introduced at 50-50, then the ratio would change Senator Ruston said this would not happen without community consultation

The program is currently operating in WA's East Kimberley and Goldfields regions, Ceduna in SA, and recently began in Bundaberg and Hervey Bay in Queensland.

The CDC is designed to curb drug and alcohol abuse by limiting access to cash through quarantined welfare payments — putting up to 80 per cent of a person's welfare payment on the card which cannot be spent on alcohol or gaming.

Senators are expected to vote next month to introduce the program in the NT and Cape York.

Senator Ruston told ABC Radio Darwin if the CDC was introduced in the NT, people would get 50 per cent of their payments in their bank account and the other 50 per cent would be loaded onto the card.

"The CDC will replace the Basics Card at the rate of which the Basics Card for the individual currently sits at — and in the Northern Territory, that's a 50-50 split," Senator Ruston said.

While Senator Lambie said she had seen "good results" at the trial sites she told the ABC she would not reveal how she would vote. ( ABC Goldfields: Isabel Moussalli )

Territorians 'really concerned'

Her comments contradict what Liam Flanagan, the Arnhem Land Progress Aboriginal Corporation's general manager of community services, said he had been told by Senator Jacqui Lambie during her visit to the Northern Territory.

Yesterday, Senator Lambie finished her visits to cashless debit card trial sites in Western Australia, on what she has called a "fact-finding mission" into the card's success.

Last week, Senator Lambie met with Territorians in Papunya, Haasts Bluff, Alice Springs and Milingimbi to discuss concerns about the proposal.

During the NT leg of her tour, Mr Flanagan said Senator Lambie claimed discussions she had been part of planned to pay recipients 20 per cent in cash and put the other 80 per cent onto the CDC.

"Having it put out as 50-50 and then for communities to have found out through Senator Lambie that all the discussions she's been involved in around 80-20 has really concerned people," Mr Flanagan said.

"Knowing the other trial sites have all run at 80-20 for the past five years."

Almost 22,000 Territorians are on the Basics Card. ( ABC News: Emilia Terzon )

Mr Flanagan was concerned the CDC would be introduced at a 50-50 rate, then the ratio would be altered later without adequate community consultation.

"The fact the Government has been quite specific in how it has framed the bill up so that it's not written in the legislation that it will stay at 50-50; the fact that it doesn't have to go back into Parliament to change from 50-50 — that was a level of concern for our organisation and people all over the Territory before we heard these comments from Senator Lambie," he said.

The ABC has contacted Senator Lambie for further comment.

Senator Ruston said the Commonwealth would "absolutely" not alter the NT's 50-50 split without consultation

She said in other jurisdictions, it had been the communities themselves — not the Federal Government — asking for a larger chunk of welfare payments to be quarantined on the card.

'Bad policy is a bad policy'

Northern Territory Council of Social Service chief executive Deborah Di Natale said she was concerned there had not been enough community consultation.

"There's mixed messages about whether its a 80-20 split or 50-50 which is leaving communities incredibly confused," she said.

"We still make the case that there is no evidence that income management works and a bad policy is a bad policy — whether it's 50 per cent or 80 per cent."

Ms Di Natale said the NT did not have a "cashless economy" — with many people buying second-hand goods and items using just cash, especially in remote communities.

"They're not in a situation where they can do that half, 80 per cent, whatever percentage of their income quarantined," she said.

Remote NT communities like Santa Teresa in Central Australia, pictured here, have been subject to income management since 2007. ( ABC News: Greg Nelson )

"The legislation gives the minister the right to actually quarantine up to 100 per cent of someone's income.

"We've got the situation of some bureaucrats in Canberra who have come up with this idea without genuinely consulting communities out in the Northern Territory."

If it was up to her, Ms Di Natale said she would scrap the entire bill.

"Policy is being made on the run for some of the most marginalised people in the Northern Territory," she said.

"And more importantly, it's being made without any evidence base that it works."

Senator Jacqui Lambie visited communities in the NT last week to discuss the cashless debit card, before she visited the WA trial sites. ( Supplied: Arnhem Land Progress Aboriginal Corporation )

Lambie still undecided on vote

While Senator Lambie said she had seen "good results" at the trial sites she told the ABC she would not reveal how she would vote.

With Labor turning against the welfare scheme, Senator Lambie's opinion will be crucial as the Senate is expected to vote on the trial's extension next month.