Thursday 4 May 2017

Cashless welfare card costs gov a fortune - $10k for $14k welfare recipient

Tudge. The only thing missing here is the star glinting off his teeth FFS
Of course the state becoming intricately involved in the spending habits of an entire small community is going to cost a lot of money to administrate. 

In fact it's about $10,000 for every welfare person who only gets $14k a year anyway. For a gov in budget crisis it's not hard to see why with loose purse strings like this. Plus the whole trial hasn't been proven to actually be of much benefit at all. That's a huge outlay of public money with no proven real benefits.


So why is the gov so keen to implement it? To give one of their mates a nice juicy gov contract? Their blind ideological mission from god in the face of economic insanity? Actually that sounds pretty much like the whole Abbott/Turnbull gov since Tone's took office.

The Australian Council of Social Service said the government was continuing the program at an extraordinary cost, despite the lack of reliable evidence of its effectiveness.

 Its chief executive, Cassandra Goldie, said the money should be diverted to investing in proven support services.

 “The cashless debit card costs around $10,000 a year per participant to administer, when the person themselves is receiving a meagre $14,000 a year in Newstart payments. How on earth is this good value?” Goldie said.

 “What we spend on this card would be much better spent on investing in services and supports that have a far stronger evidence base of being effective in addressing individual and community needs.”


The Greens senator Rachel Siewert said the trial was an “ideological waste of money”.

 “That money should go towards wrap-around services, supports and programs for people struggling with drug, alcohol and gambling addiction and tackling the underlying causes of disadvantage,” Siewert said.

“People who work in drug and alcohol services for people in struggling communities have plenty of ideas on how that money could be better spent.” The Guardian

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