22nd Jun 2023, 12:38 PM – Senate Social Security (Administration) Amendment (Income Management Reform) Bill 2023 - Second Reading - Condemn Government

The majority voted against an amendment to the usual second reading motion, which is "that the bill be read a second time" (parliamentary jargon for agreeing with the main idea of the bill. South Australian Senator Anne Ruston (Liberal) had proposed to add the words below to that usual motion.

Amendment text

At the end of the motion, add ", but the Senate:

(a) notes:

(i) the Coalition introduced the Cashless Debit Card to protect vulnerable communities reducing the amount of welfare payments available to spend on alcohol, gambling and illegal drugs,

(ii) since the Cashless Debit Card program commenced more than $988 million has been spent using cashless debit card accounts; participants making more than 20 million approved transactions with over $273 million spent where the primary business is food,

(iii) the harm and hardship the Government's abolition of the Cashless Debit Card has caused some of Australia's most vulnerable communities,

(iv) the Government's hypocrisy by reintroducing the Cashless Debit Card and rebranding it the SmartCard with the new card supported by the same provider Indue,

(v) the Government has committed over $217 million of taxpayers' funds to this expensive rebranding exercise,

(vi) the Government has failed to provide details of the total cost to taxpayers of the new SmartCard, and

(vii) the Government has rushed and total mismanaged transition to the SmartCard; and

(b) calls on the Government to, without delay, reverse its decision to abolish the Cashless Debit Card program and stop the alcohol-fuelled violence, drug abuse and childhood neglect in our most vulnerable communities".