After pressing the issue in Question Time, the ACT Party refused to present any evidence justifying a need for this government’s intended introduction of a cashless welfare scheme.

“Cashless welfare cards are an ACT Party policy imported from Australia, forcibly restricting 75% of a beneficiaries entitlement to a VISA-like debit card, under the false pretext of preventing beneficiaries on Jobseeker Support from purchasing alcohol and drugs.” says imnofox, Green Party spokesperson for Social Development.

The idea that the poor waste their money on alcohol and drugs is a classist myth. Statistics New Zealand research shows that rich or poor, New Zealanders spend the same proportion of their income on alcohol: 2%. The same statistics also show that New Zealanders living in poverty even spend more of their weekly income on food compared to the wealthy: 18.4% vs 15.3%.

When single-parent families received an extra £30 a week, London School of Economics research showed that the extra income was used predominantly on their children and household items by low-income families, while spending on alcohol and tobacco actually reduced.

“‘Cashless welfare’ is a paternalistic attack on the dignity of unemployed people, relying on the false underlying assumption that poor money management is the cause of poverty. The Minister has ignored calls to provide evidence to justify the imposition, while significant evidence from Australia shows the card causes more harm than good.” states imnofox.

The South Australian Drug and Alcohol Council reported no decrease in substance abuse after the card’s introduction.

“Addiction and substance abuse problems will never be ended through punitive measures, for the simple reason that it’s an addiction. Continuing and expanding punitive measures runs contrary to the approach started by the first Green government, and instead just creates financial and emotional stress.” argues imnofox.

“‘Cashless welfare’ also greatly diminishes opportunities for beneficiaries to save money by shopping second hand, restricts people from engaging in their communities by supporting fairs or sending children to school camps, and puts up unnecessary barriers in a range of scenarios. These are all things we’ve seen regularly overseas.”

The Minister of Social Development also waved away concerns about the cost of implementing a ‘cashless welfare’ scheme, instead simply stating that the “administration will be a relatively straightforward process”. The implementation of cashless welfare in Australia, however, has cost over $10,000 per person forced into the scheme.

“This is a costly scheme with no justification behind it, except an ideological desire to punish the poor for being poor.”

“Just like the attempted reforms of the Public Works Act, the ACT Party Ministers are again coming to Parliament, driven entirely by ideology, and doing none of the work. Shoddy bills and uninformed policies. New Zealand deserves better from our government.” states imnofox.