Government kicks off cashless welfare trial

The federal government has launched a controversial trial involving providing cashless welfare payments that will not be usable at bottle shops or on gambling sites.

The trial in South Australia's Ceduna will see 80% of welfare payments placed onto a Visa cashless debit card, with the remaining 20% sent to their regular bank account.

While the cards will look like a normal Visa debit card and work at most places Visa is accepted, it will not work at any bottle shops or gambling sites in the country and cannot be used to withdraw cash.

The card will be connected to holders' mobile numbers, and text messages will be sent after every major purchase to inform them of the purchase and remaining account balance.

Minister for Human Services Alan Tudge said $127,000 has been provided to improve telecom services in the region in aid of the trial, and $1 million in support services such as drug and alcohol services have been put in place.

But the Greens have slammed the trial system as still having major flaws that have yet to be addressed. These include the fact that card recipients will be worse off, as none of the merchants in the region who charge a premium for EFTPOS have agreed to remove the premium for these cards.

In addition, the Greens have argued that the presence of the additional support services will make it unclear whether any benefit in terms of reducing gambling, alcohol or drug abuse is the result of the introduction of the card or of the support services themselves.

Image courtesy of DeclanTM under CC