Alcohol, gambling restriction trial 'not thought through', NSW Labor MP Linda Burney says

Updated

State Labor has expressed "enormous reservations" about a potential trial of alcohol and gambling restrictions in the New South Wales town of Moree.

The Federal Government has been in talks with service providers in the northern New South Wales town as well as Ceduna in South Australia and Kununurra in Western Australia about taking part in the trial that would see the majority of each welfare payment provided through a new type of debit card that cannot be used to purchase alcohol, or for gambling.

The idea was raised in the Indigenous jobs review conducted by mining identity Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest for the Prime Minister last year.

Mr Forrest proposed what he called the "Healthy Welfare Card" which could not be used to buy alcohol or to gamble.

He also suggested excluding pornography where possible and argued the card should apply across the board, rather than being targeted at the Indigenous community.

The Government wants to make that idea a reality and has already been in negotiations with the major banks about how the card could work.

Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, Alan Tudge, has played a key role in developing the card.

He said a significant proportion of the taxpayer-funded welfare payment would be put onto the debit card, and recipients would be able to access a portion of the payment as cash.

A spokesman for Mr Tudge said the Government is in consultations with a range of communities and "no decision has been made" about where the trials will take place.

But Federal officials who have been in talks with service providers are expected to return to Moree in the coming weeks to hold further discussions about a potential trial.

'The unintended consequences are not thought through'

The New South Wales deputy opposition leader and Indigenous Affairs spokeswoman Linda Burney said if the Moree community embraced the trial then it should be implemented but she is not convinced widespread consultations with key community leaders have taken place.

"I have enormous reservations about a trial like that," she said.

"If there is going to be such a trial it has to be done in absolute consultation with the community and with the voluntary participation of the community," she said.

"The unintended consequences are not thought through."

She said it is not clear how families relying on the payments would access cash for school excursions, to attend paid sporting events or if money was urgently needed in the case of a funeral.

Ms Burney said the Government's choice of potential trial sites shows the policy is aimed at the Aboriginal community.

"That's just rubbish, to say that this is colour blind and you choose a community with a very sizeable Aboriginal population is not colour blind," she said.

"I know at some of the other trial sites that are being discussed there is a large Aboriginal community."

Ms Burney said the cost of putting the card in place is likely to run into the millions of dollars, and that money would be better spent on providing services to deal with the alcohol abuse and domestic violence problems in Moree.

"The provision of services to deal with drugs and alcohol is almost nil, very little new investment," she said.

"The real question is where is that money best spent?

"Is it best spent on a punitive action like issuing a card if you are on welfare – whether you are using your welfare payment appropriately or not – or is it best to invest it in education and work with the community and put in services that are going to address the consequences of alcohol consumption?"

Topics: welfare, community-and-society, federal-government, federal---state-issues, government-and-politics, nsw, moree-2400, australia, kununurra-6743, ceduna-5690

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