Coalition needs crossbench support in face of Labor and Greens opposition to rollout of quarantined welfare payments

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The Nick Xenophon Team will not support an expansion of the cashless welfare card, labelling it an “incredibly expensive experiment” that lacks evidence.

The loss of crucial Senate crossbench support places the government’s plans to significantly expand the controversial income management program in doubt, given both Labor and the Greens are opposed.

The cards quarantine 80% of a welfare recipient’s income to a restricted debit card, in an attempt to prevent spending on alcohol, drugs, and gambling.

Domestic violence survivor could not have escaped abuse on cashless debit card Read more

The vast majority of participants are currently Indigenous, and critics say the cards are paternalistic, ineffective, and too blunt and punitive a tool to address complex issues driving crime, unemployment, and alcohol and drug use.

The government is currently seeking to expand the cashless cards to new sites, in the Kalgoorlie-Boulder region of Western Australia and Bundaberg in Queensland.

But NXT MP Rebekha Sharkie announced on Tuesday her party would not support legislation to expand the cards. No support would be given for an expansion until “we have the conclusive determination that the card is helping people, rather than hurting communities”, Sharkie said.

“And I do not believe we truly know right now how successful the trials have been until much more data is collected, especially as the research findings and community response to the trials to date has been so mixed,” she said.

The social services minister, Dan Tehan, said he was still working to get crossbench support.

“The cashless debit card has made a real difference in the communities where it has been trialled and the government is continuing to work with the crossbench to pass this important legislation,” Tehan said.

Sharkie outlined a number of conditions for NXT support. Any further expansion must require genuine community support and consultation, not merely the support of community leaders. The card should only be introduced where there was “genuine social licence”, she said.

The government must also deliver wraparound support services into communities alongside the card, she said, because the card itself would not drive behavioural change.

Sharkie said there must also be clear, conclusive evidence from independent studies showing the card was effective.

“We do not yet have a clear determination on whether the card actually benefits participants and communities and it is an incredibly expensive experiment to continue, let alone to expand,” she said.

Sharkie said the NXT would support a temporary extension of the current trials. She also suggested the government had the power to expand to the Goldfields site without legislation.

About 78% of participants at current sites are Indigenous, but that would lower considerably if the expansion took place.

The bill passed the lower house late on Tuesday afternoon, but is expected to stall in the Senate without NXT support.

Labor has already expressed its opposition to an expansion of the card until there is further evidence of its effectiveness.

Shadow social services minister Jenny Macklin said a positive evaluation of the cards, conducted by consultancy Orima Research, was flawed and inconclusive.

“Labor has consistently said that we will take a community-by-community approach to the further rollout of the cashless debit card,” Macklin told Guardian Australia.

“Labor will move amendments in the Senate to extend the end date for the trials in Ceduna and the East Kimberley to 30 June 2019 so that a proper evaluation can take place over a longer trial period.”

Family violence rates rise in Kimberley towns with cashless welfare Read more

Liberal MP Ben Morton said Labor’s dissent went against what communities in proposed trial locations wanted, and also sent a message that the cards were fine for majority Indigenous communities but not others.



“By refusing an extended roll-out into the Goldfields and Hinkler (electorate) they are precisely saying that this card is okay for those majority Indigenous communities, but not okay for other non-Indigenous communities and that’s shameful on their part,” Morton said.

Greens senator Rachel Siewert welcomed the NXT’s stance. Siewert said she looked forward to the vote being mirrored in the Senate, which would effectively kill off the legislation’s chances.



