Morrison government wins support of independent Tim Storer for trial to be expanded into Bundaberg and Hervey Bay

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The cashless welfare card will be rolled out in parts of Queensland after legislation to expand the controversial trial passed the Senate on Tuesday.

The 33-32 vote came after the federal government won the support of the independent Tim Storer, who backed the expansion having won an amendment to force additional oversight of the trial at the two new sites in Bundaberg and Hervey Bay.

Storer had withheld his support following a damning audit office report that found the evaluation of existing trials in Ceduna and East Kimberley had been so “inadequate” it was unclear whether the cards had reduced social harm.

Labor, the Greens and Storer’s former Centre Alliance colleagues on Tuesday voted against the expansion of the card, which major welfare groups also strongly oppose. The expansion plans have also drawn the ire of the Bundaberg mayor, former LNP stalwart Jack Dempsey, but the member for Hinkler, LNP MP Keith Pitt, is a vocal supporter of the trial.

Aimed at reducing alcohol, gambling and drug use, the cards quarantine 80% of a person’s welfare payments to a special debit card. Critics say the cards leave welfare recipients unable to participate in the cash economy to buy things such as second-hand goods and disproportionately affect Indigenous communities.

Storer’s amendment means the expansion will now be subject to an independent inquiry that consults with trial participants.

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The opposition supported the amendment for more oversight.

“We agree with Senator Storer that increased scrutiny is certainly needed,” the Labor senator Jenny McAllister said. “But I also wish to place on record my scepticism that it will improve things a great deal. Already $1.6m of public money has been spent on a failed evaluation.”

The Australian Council of Social Service described the news as “deeply disappointing”, while the Greens’ community services spokeswoman, Rachel Siewert, said the trial would push people further into poverty.

“With all due respect to Senator Storer, I think he’s been sold a pup,” she told the Senate. “There is no evidence from the [national audit office’s] report that this process has reduced social harm. We cannot support causing more distress to more people in Hinkler and the Goldfields and continuing that distress in Ceduna and East Kimberly.

“You just can’t make this nonsense better. We can’t support this, because you can’t make it better.”

Last month, a Senate committee report into the cashless welfare card argued the trial should be expanded until 30 June 2020, and trialled in Hervey Bay and Bundaberg.

The expansion will increase the number of participants to 15,000. In Hinkler, people under 36 who are receiving Newstart, youth allowance or parenting payments will be placed on the card, which has also been rolled out in the WA’s Goldfields region.

Dempsey has expressed frustration that cards will be trialled in his community, saying the government should focus on a broader package to help people into jobs.

The manager of government business in the Senate, Mitch Fifield, said the government believed “you don’t have to choose between the cashless card and support services”.

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“The government is committed to both,” he told the Senate on Tuesday.

The government decided to push ahead with the expansion despite the auditor general’s damning verdict on the existing evaluation of the card in Ceduna and East Kimberley.

“As a consequence, it is difficult to conclude whether there had been a reduction in social harm and whether the card was a lower cost welfare quarantining approach,” its report said.

The government would not say on Tuesday how much expanding the trial into the Queensland would cost, saying the figure was commercial-in-confidence.