Cashless Welfare Card

[moonflyte]

Could this be the end of the tragedy of alcohol fueled violence and child neglect.

A cashless welfare card aimed at stemming alcohol abuse would be rolled out across the country under a welfare reform the Turnbull government is considering taking to the election.

As regional trouble spots line up to be chosen for trials of the government’s new Healthy Welfare Card to begin next month, The Australian understands the Coalition may seek an election mandate to extend the card to welfare recipients across regional Australia if they achieve positive results.

Under the new system — proposed by mining magnate ­Andrew Forrest in his review of the welfare system in 2014 — 80 per cent of a person’s government payment would be ­quarantined to a bank card that could not be used to buy alcohol and gambling products, nor ­converted to cash.

The remaining 20 per cent could be accessible as cash.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/national-cashless-welfare-card-plan-by-turnbull-gov...

[michellebartley]

I think its a lousy idea. Extremely soul destroying to say the least.

[go-tazz]

Playford is the Elizabeth area and a bit more and it's where I went to school,3 months at Elizabeth Fields Primary

and 2 yrs and 2 months at Elizabeth West High school,(after comimg over from Holland in 1969).

I went to a High school reunion a few years ago and went and had a look around the area where we used to

live.

The place is now very run down and one in 20 might have a green lawm,(others had either a dead lawn or

cars parked on it),

We used to sit on the lawn to watch TV and our doors and windows were never locked,(everything is now locked

including the back gates).

Most areas have a small supermarket but main ones have to be accessed by bus or car,(the main Elizabeth

shopping centre is about 15 to 20 minutes away from some of those areas so they'll need bus fare or petrol

to get there).

My parents used to go to the Centre to do a main shop once a week and then get bread,milk,etc from the

milkman and baker and then later from the smaller shops when the those services stopped.

[myoclon1cjerk]

The govt can set up a little van there and hand out the cards to the Holden workers as they file out of the factory for the last time

[esayaf]

Or better still refurbish a bus at the cost of $150000 and waste $4000 a day running it

[chameleon54]

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@myoclon1cjerk wrote:
The govt can set up a little van there and hand out the cards to the Holden workers as they file out of the factory for the last time

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Not wishing to hijack the thread, but the closure of the car industry in SA is shaping up to be a major, major problem for the state. Watch the unemployment rate run past 10%  and we all know things are a lot worse than the official figures show. Only today, I was talking to a relative who works in the area and he was saying there is already huge preasure on wages with tradies once earning $40-$60 an hour now offering to work for $22-$25 an hour. ( the relative employs tradies in his business )

[myoclon1cjerk]

Most of those car workers will be lucky if they can land a fulltime job within 2 years if at all if they're older.Of course they'll eventually be branded as dole bludgers.

[chuk_77]

Elizabeth fields  is no more. Its Daveron Park now.  Elizabeth West is Edinburgh North

Heaps of Deli's around so the need to go to Elizabeth shops isnt always necessary. Munno Para shops is also close by. Some delis stock almost everything. There also a heap od small complexes that have a variety bakery/butcher/independant grocer.

[go-tazz]

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@chuk_77 wrote:

Elizabeth fields  is no more. Its Daveron Park now.  Elizabeth West is Edinburgh North

Heaps of Deli's around so the need to go to Elizabeth shops isnt always necessary. Munno Para shops is also close by. Some delis stock almost everything. There also a heap od small complexes that have a variety bakery/butcher/independant grocer.

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I still have family and friends that live over there,so I knew about a name changes when they happened,

They need to keep the cost down and deli's are more expensive and bakery/butcher/independant grocer may

not take the card,(so they have the Centre,which we prefer or Munno Para).

[***super_nova***]

OMG!  It is even worse than I imagined.  Not even ALDI is able to accept the card and  for each participant, the scheme costs between $4,500 and $7,700 to administer!!!!!  

The ABC asked Woolworths if their computer systems red-flag banned goods such as cigarettes or alcohol.

A spokeswoman said it came down to staff discretion.

"Staff in these stores receive specific training relating to the use of BasicCards,'' she said.

This scheme should be applied only in absolutely extreme cases.