Government accused of ‘demonising vulnerable people’ after only 100 of the more than 5,000 people on the program allowed to leave

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Only 100 of the more than 5,000 people on the cashless welfare card trial have been allowed off the scheme, and the process for exemption has been labelled humiliating and hard to understand.

The government argues the card, which stores up to 80% of a welfare recipient’s payment for use at selected stores, leads to a reduction in violence and harm related to drinking alcohol, illegal drug use and gambling.

But it has been criticised for punishing people who have had a good track record managing their money, and making it harder for them to manage their daily lives.

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Individuals are able to apply to be exempted from the card where the Department of Social Security is satisfied that “being on the cashless debit card is affecting their mental, physical or emotional wellbeing”.

However, questions have been asked about the transparency of the exemption process.

Raylene Peel, 54, lives in Boulder in the Goldfields region of Western Australia. Peel said she has been trying to get off the card since it was introduced two years ago.

At the time, Peel had quit her job and moved to Yatala in South Australia to care for her elderly father. While on a carer’s allowance, Peel discovered she had been put on the cashless card trial.

Having to use that card, it’s the most embarrassing thing going Raylene Peel

“I was so degraded by it,” Peel said. “I let that money go and refused to touch it.”

Peel said she called the department’s hotline and went to the Centrelink office to ask to be taken off the card.

“They sent us to human services, who sent us back to social services,” Peel said. “We went through every department and they fobbed us off.”

A Department of Social Services spokesperson said participants can apply to exit the cashless debit card program “if they can demonstrate reasonable and responsible management of their affairs, including their financial affairs”.

Peel said she feels trapped in a humiliating system.

“I’m not a drinker, I’m not a smoker. I’m a carer. I’ve worked all my life. I stopped work to care for my father. Now I’m carer for my mother, and in between time my husband’s health has started to fail, but this card has done more damage mentally than all of that,” Peel said.

Peel said her adult children, who were working at the time, supported the family while her father grew ill and died in 2017.

“We just made do. I was getting letters saying ‘you need to spend the money’ and I wouldn’t. It built up to just under $4,000.

“It is bringing up the olden days of rations and the welfare taking our kids and telling us how to live,” Peel said. But she relented and used her card when her daughter’s first baby was born last year.

“Having to use that card, it’s the most embarrassing thing going.”

The government’s own evaluation in 2018 found the card had succeeded in “reducing alcohol consumption and gambling” in Ceduna and the East Kimberley. Seventeen per cent of people reported feeling better off, but 24% of parents reported their children’s lives were worse.

“I have not met with anybody who is currently on the card who is not saying that they accept that it has improved their life. Many of them are actually saying that it has made a substantial improvement to their quality of life,” the social services minister, Anne Ruston said last week.

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As of late last week, anyone seeking an exemption from the trial has to complete a six-page form providing detailed personal information, including bank and credit card statements, and children’s school attendance records for a minimum of four school terms.

Applicants will have to declare when they have missed paying a bill by the due date, or missed any mortgage or rental payments. Public housing information, such as eviction notices and public housing debts, the interests of any children, the risk of homelessness or addiction, and “engagement” in the community through employment or volunteering will all be assessed.

“All applications are considered on a case-by-case basis and processing times will vary for each application,” the departmental spokesperson said.

A cashless welfare card – known as the ‘indue card. Photograph: -

The Greens senator Rachel Siewert said the exemption process was “definitely subjective”.

“A lot of people on limited incomes are juggling money to make ends meet. That can appear that you are not meeting your bills when in fact you’re prioritising them,” Siewert said.

“How will they judge I can manage my money, if I am doing it in a way they don’t think I should be doing it?

“I would find it hard to complete that form; it’s six pages long. It’s just demonising vulnerable people and making their lives harder.”

The department said anyone having difficulty with the exemption process could call contact the cashless debit card hotline on 1800 252 604.