2017-03-29
The Coalition and the Labor party have voted down a Greens disallowance motion that would have stopped the cashless welfare card trial extensions.
“When the yearlong trials of the cashless welfare card were passed into legislation with the help of Labor, we feared that this would lead to an extended rollout. Unfortunately this has happened.
“I am disappointed that the Labor party have continuously backed the Government on the cashless welfare card trials. They claim to care for vulnerable people but actions speak louder than words.
"The so called trial Interim Evaluation Report can't be used to justify support for extension of the trial. It is flawed, using anecdotal evidence and drawing conclusions from the 'evidence' that are simply not justified.
“The evaluation methods of the cashless welfare card trials are questionable, and the report fails to include police data in the trial region and surrounds that shows a marked jump in various crimes.
"We cannot assess the impact of the wrap around services injected into the trial area at the same time as the card. Wrap around services are always welcome, but how can we know that any apparent reduction in drinking or gambling is thanks to the card or the services?
“Top-down income management policies that attempt to reduce disadvantage often has the opposite effect. It is time to ditch this ideological approach to addressing gambling and alcohol and drug addiction once and for all”.