2018-02-09
It is disappointing that the Senate has voted down the Greens disallowance motion to immediately stop the cashless welfare card trials in the East Kimberley and Ceduna.
“The evaluation has been done and the result do not justify further rollout with many worrying negative trends, we need to put this awful social experiment to bed”, Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said today.
“I of course welcome the NXT and the ALP opposing in the House of Representatives the legislation to expand the card, but that they are happy for the current harmful trials to continue. Further it is disappointing to see that there are amendments circulated by the Labor Party to extend current trials into 2019.
“Rather than drawing the trials out, we should be ending them.
“For every day that passes that people are forcibly on the card, their lives are more difficult. We have heard of people not able to buy food in remote communities when the internet drops out; one woman has said she would not be able to escape a domestic violence relationship if she was on the card.
“We do not need to be making life harder for vulnerable members of our community, drug addiction is not fixed when you control someone’s income, it is a health issue and should be treated as such".