The Australian Government seems hellbent on making the lives of welfare recipients as miserable as possible, with those who are unemployed and claiming the Newstart Allowance being the hot targets for government agendas designed to make their lives even more difficult and system-controlled than they already are. I am talking about the debit card system that will replace the allowance being paid in cash.
Sure, I won’t deny that there are people receiving unemployment benefits simply because they will not work, but I’m not talking about them. Or the teenaged girls who have opted to make government-funded pregnancies a lifestyle choice. I’m talking about the genuine cases, many of whom are older Australians who have been caught in the crossfire when the retirement age was raised. They are now required to find work again because they are below the age of retirement and if needing to claim the Age Pension, they cannot. So they have been put on to Newstart and it’s either find another job, or be forced into taking on “voluntary” work (15 hours per week) or their benefit will be affected.
The problem with hitting people aged 50 and upwards (40 and upwards for women) is that employers will not take them on because they won’t employ older workers, and all the schemes devised to encourage businesses to take them on, fail. Many have been retrenched in a downsizing exercise or they took their retirement at the age they should have been able to do so, only to find they could not claim the pension. Paid employment doesn’t happen for these people, despite their skills and experience, because they are considered too old. This is the reality.
And now the Australian Government is wanting to introduce a cashless debit card system. They are calling it a trial but we all know what happens with “trials” of things that no one wants; in these instances, “trial” means permanent from the get go. Initially, the card system was to apply to new recipients under the age of 30, but has been almost immediately raised to under 35. The cards will mean that only a small amount of cash will be available as the card, basically, can only be used to purchase foodstuffs and whatever the system deems necessary and the card will carry several restrictions on what can be purchased. Parliamentarians in favour of the debit card claim it will stop people spending their unemployment money on drugs and alcohol, but if they think that is going to stop them using drugs and alcohol they are fooling themselves. People with an addiction will just find another way to access the cash they need to service their habit and my guess is there will be a sharp rise in robbery crimes. Addicts will go with whatever works to get the money they need to feed their addiction, end of story.
But while on the subject of drugs and alcohol, the cashless debit card is going to be tied in with drug testing. Those who fail a drug test will have their payments quarantined. Right. Scott Morrison first raised the subject of drug testing welfare recipients in his May 2017 budget speech, while he was still Treasurer. Widespread condemnation though meant it was dropped from the Welfare Bill. But now he wants to resurrect it, while at the same time refusing to consider increasing the Newstart Allowance to a more liveable amount. At present the allowance falls below the poverty line and the greater number of people stuck on it are those older Australians mentioned above. Those supporting the “trial” are claiming it has been designed to “help” new welfare recipients to obtain work, those not in favour are seeing it for what it really is; a further attempt the control the lives of people who have found themselves having to rely on welfare and is guaranteed to keep them dependent for the foreseeable future. What it won’t do is help them.
But linking the card with drug testing is also sneaky, because it will link “welfare” and “drug use” in the minds of the population, which is a sly way of getting around the issue of refusing to raise the Newstart Allowance to a more liveable amount. It’s disgusting really.
Thing is, once established, the welfare cashless debit card, with all it’s restrictions, will go right across the board and everyone receiving a benefit is going to find themselves forced onto it. It will not solve anything, nor help any of the recipients.
But is sure will restrict their lives.