Australia is a liberal democratic society. This means that we ALL should enjoy the individual FREEDOMS that those words imply, with those ideals being unconditional, not based upon one's employment or tax-paying status. As John Locke the father of liberal philosophy said "being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions… (and) when his own preservation comes not in competition, ought he, as much as he can, to preserve the rest of mankind, and may not, unless it be to do justice on an offender, take away, or impair the life, or what tends to the preservation of the life, the liberty, health, limb, or goods of another." Why should another person have more power over another's life, simply because that person pays tax? Liberty is not conditional upon the economic system. This cashless welfare card extensively limits a citizen's liberty and places their mental, emotional, social and physical health in jeopardy. This policy is in opposition to the very ideology our entire country is based on. It is oppressive and further marginalises citizens already experiencing exclusion and limited social participation due to poverty, no meaningful employment, demeaning "obligations", and inaccurate stereotyping of welfare recipients. It is socially divisive, based on mob mentality, which politicians then use for the purposes of maintaining their own positions of power.
shell - 8 years ago
This is against human rights:
- there are no jobs in Ceduna!
- this should not go ahead unless there are abundant community gardens so people don't starve to death!
- forcing those on welfare to rely more on processed foods and bear more of the health burden from consuming GMO foods
One is unable to do a country trial and think it would apply in the city- where there is an abundance of well-off folk and thus will increase crime!
Take money from tax avoiders to pay for welfare!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kathy - 8 years ago
Who are they really supporting with this idea? Looks like big business to me. No more second hand furniture, white goods or school uniforms, as these are purchased through private people, not organisations with facilities to conduct such transactions. No more road side fruit stall purchases, have to go to coles or woollies and who charges and maintains the cards...why the banks of course! Fooling the masses to believe that people on welfare are all alcoholics, drug addicts, smokers and gamblers, and NEED to be controlled and told where and how they can spend their money, and the general Australian public falling for this ploy is a sad reflection that our society is allowing dictatorship to prevail. When the working mans rights get taken away too, it will be too late to stop them.
Jane - 8 years ago
The cashless card along with Social Security cuts backs is an agenda in driving the poverty train and to punish the poor.
Government have an ideology that poor people are scum bag drug addicts alcoholics gamberlers and theives. When the truth is we are not. I am raising my 3 grandsons and for me to be placed on this card simply means we'll be living on the street. I will lose my home and our way of life.
We are not criminals we are not slaves...we spend our money money we are entitled to receive and we pay tax on every commodity we purchase. We put our money back into the economy to support our communities.
Who said if you are unemployed you should be made an example of by way of this cashless card...how can you survive when somebody else has control of your money..
Our government has sold out to foreign investors Australia's income..it is the government who should be put on a controlled cashless card to stop exploitation and blatant waste of tax payers money to fund their bank accounts and business buddy's...
Government work for the people and should be held accountable for every dollar taken away from the people of Australia...taxes are paid to support our country not our politicians.
Paul - 8 years ago
A lot of planning with local businesses and community members and forethought has gone into this initiative before being implemented. The infrastructure etc. to use these cards is already in place.
Angela agnew - 8 years ago
I think it is an invasion of privacy especially. For those who do not smoke, drink or gamble. Also in small towns nor all small businesses have card facilities?
This card is an invasion of privacy especially for those who do not drink,smoke or gamble. In many small towns many small businesses do not have card facilities. What happens to periodical payments already set up for car insurance, health insurance, etc. these payments cannot be paid in cash.
Paul - 8 years ago
I think some people have an opinion about this card without knowing the full facts. It is the elders or leaders of Indigenous communities who have asked for these cards, so concerned are they about the neglect and abuse of children and in some cases women in their communities. This abuse stems in many cases from the men in these communities using the money for alcohol, gambling (& drugs), both increasing the likelihood of family violence and also leaving no money that can be spent on food, medicine, clothing & other essentials for both women & particularly children, who cannot fend adequately for themselves. What about their right to access these basic human rights that are being taken away by members of their own community for their own self indulgence? I recall watching a YouTube clip of a Q&A episode on the ABC interviewing Aboriginal leaders in support of the initiative. For more information, these are just a few of many links on the subject:
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2015/s4330129.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2015/s4287433.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2015/s4275331.htm
lidia pawel - 8 years ago
If this card goes through my girls and I miss out on swimming lessons (which is essential), basketball (which is essential), shopping at op shops, shopping at farmers markets, the odd lunch order so my kids dont get teased at school, excursions, paying for repairs of clothes and alterations, purchasing of second hand uniforms at the uniform shop and many many things I cant thinkof at the moment bbecauseim under so much stress about this card.
Anna - 8 years ago
Yep how sad, just another way for the government to control its own people!
Nick Costello - 8 years ago
The government has attempted to introduce income-management for welfare-recipients in various forms in recent years. In spite of several failures, an apparent determination to push the idea through suggests a desire to control the spending of all welfare-recipients.
This latest round of trials strongly suggests that the stated aim of income-management - to help drug, alcohol and gambling addicts manage their money - is a ruse. The unexplained expansion of the subject-group to include all working-age welfare recipients lays the foundations for the rapid introduction of the scheme across the entire welfare-system with a minimum of due-process. That is morally questionable and socially very dangerous.
As for the logistics of income-management and the use of any of the associated cards, there are many practical reasons why the system will not work. A major problem is that the system is aimed at creating a one-size-fits-all model when the life-situations that welfare-recipients must deal with vary greatly, as do the means by which they cope with them. For income-management to work there must also be considerable work done in establishing secure pathways to shelter and opportunity. In its present form, income-management borders on economic apartheid.
Tania Hawting - 8 years ago
If compassion is a measure of the intelligence of society and its leadership this 'welfare' card reflects a disturbing lack of genuine cognitive abilities. Translated this means, 'God help us all'
Maxwell Clark - 8 years ago
If we were forced onto this card my family would be destroyed. It is already hard enough just to make ends meet each fortnight with my wife on the DSP and me being her full time carer and raising 2 kids. At the moment we are able to eat well with a lot of fresh produce etc and able to pay all of our bills etc on time along with our rent but on this card all of that would change and that they way this card is at present we would be kicked out onto the street's within 3 months and would have to eat food from cans etc. We do not do drugs, we do not drink booze etc but we would be placed in the same category as those who do. Our biggest fear is that our children will suffer under this card and to me this is a direct personal attack on my family which I vow to destroy those who support it.
Allison - 8 years ago
I believe that the "healthy welfare card" is a form of abuse. A contravention of human rights. Stripping away a vulnerable persons dignity and right to choose. A government needing to control those weaker exactly correlates with abuse of power. A "healthy welfare card" could only be helpful for those who have addiction problems, who are unable to properly manage their payments, not for those who just so happen to be unfortunate enough to need government financial support.
Cheryl - 8 years ago
Just another way for the government to control people and their spending.
I support sole parents on Facebook. Many are very worried about this card as they have been forced into some dodgy accommodation after being moved onto Newstart. They pay their rents in cash. This would make them homeless!!
They survive by buying their food at farmers markets and buying items second hand through Facebook buy swap and sell sites and op shops. They will not have enough to do this. How will they be able to buy second hand school books and uniforms? Especially now the school kids bonus is being scrapped!
Newstart has not been raised in over 21 years. This is the issue. Poverty breeds lack of hope. Give these people job opportunities, proper welfare programs with services helping them to get their lives on track. Give these people that struggle with these addictions reasons to live!!
Most welfare recipients also do the right thing. Why punish everyone for the acts of the few?
Those on welfare are the best busgeters I've seen! This will only cause more hardship and increase dependency.
Centrepay works and is much less expensive to run. Gives people ownership of their money and lives. Take away this and what do they have left? Nothing!!
John Pav - 8 years ago
The development of this cashless welfare card has been a sham from beginning to end. Sham consultations, the use of confected statistics, a local Mayor gifting Minister Tudge a bottle of Penfolds Bin 707. The general public need to have a good hard look at this trial and its development, Only then can they meaningfully indicate whether they support this trial or not.
Suffice to say, supporters ought to put themselves in the shoes of others. I know plenty of people who have no substance abuse issues whatsoever, and yet are mandatorily subject to the Ceduna trial. It is a travesty that goes against the Liberal Party philosphy and its ethics. Bob Menzies would roll over in his grave if he saw this mandatory casjhless welfare card program. A shame, really
Margaret - 8 years ago
if this was imposed on me, I would lose my house.......in a very literal sense.
b johnson - 8 years ago
20% will hardly go anywhere, and not all bills can be paid via this card
this is about control
Den Wat - 8 years ago
I have no idea how ,, I would live with this .
I'm 61 , old . Disabled , I shop op shops , farmers markets , second hand , anything to save a few cents .
How on earth could I do this ?
Australia is a liberal democratic society. This means that we ALL should enjoy the individual FREEDOMS that those words imply, with those ideals being unconditional, not based upon one's employment or tax-paying status. As John Locke the father of liberal philosophy said "being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions… (and) when his own preservation comes not in competition, ought he, as much as he can, to preserve the rest of mankind, and may not, unless it be to do justice on an offender, take away, or impair the life, or what tends to the preservation of the life, the liberty, health, limb, or goods of another." Why should another person have more power over another's life, simply because that person pays tax? Liberty is not conditional upon the economic system. This cashless welfare card extensively limits a citizen's liberty and places their mental, emotional, social and physical health in jeopardy. This policy is in opposition to the very ideology our entire country is based on. It is oppressive and further marginalises citizens already experiencing exclusion and limited social participation due to poverty, no meaningful employment, demeaning "obligations", and inaccurate stereotyping of welfare recipients. It is socially divisive, based on mob mentality, which politicians then use for the purposes of maintaining their own positions of power.
This is against human rights:
- there are no jobs in Ceduna!
- this should not go ahead unless there are abundant community gardens so people don't starve to death!
- forcing those on welfare to rely more on processed foods and bear more of the health burden from consuming GMO foods
One is unable to do a country trial and think it would apply in the city- where there is an abundance of well-off folk and thus will increase crime!
Take money from tax avoiders to pay for welfare!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Who are they really supporting with this idea? Looks like big business to me. No more second hand furniture, white goods or school uniforms, as these are purchased through private people, not organisations with facilities to conduct such transactions. No more road side fruit stall purchases, have to go to coles or woollies and who charges and maintains the cards...why the banks of course! Fooling the masses to believe that people on welfare are all alcoholics, drug addicts, smokers and gamblers, and NEED to be controlled and told where and how they can spend their money, and the general Australian public falling for this ploy is a sad reflection that our society is allowing dictatorship to prevail. When the working mans rights get taken away too, it will be too late to stop them.
The cashless card along with Social Security cuts backs is an agenda in driving the poverty train and to punish the poor.
Government have an ideology that poor people are scum bag drug addicts alcoholics gamberlers and theives. When the truth is we are not. I am raising my 3 grandsons and for me to be placed on this card simply means we'll be living on the street. I will lose my home and our way of life.
We are not criminals we are not slaves...we spend our money money we are entitled to receive and we pay tax on every commodity we purchase. We put our money back into the economy to support our communities.
Who said if you are unemployed you should be made an example of by way of this cashless card...how can you survive when somebody else has control of your money..
Our government has sold out to foreign investors Australia's income..it is the government who should be put on a controlled cashless card to stop exploitation and blatant waste of tax payers money to fund their bank accounts and business buddy's...
Government work for the people and should be held accountable for every dollar taken away from the people of Australia...taxes are paid to support our country not our politicians.
A lot of planning with local businesses and community members and forethought has gone into this initiative before being implemented. The infrastructure etc. to use these cards is already in place.
I think it is an invasion of privacy especially. For those who do not smoke, drink or gamble. Also in small towns nor all small businesses have card facilities?
This card is an invasion of privacy especially for those who do not drink,smoke or gamble. In many small towns many small businesses do not have card facilities. What happens to periodical payments already set up for car insurance, health insurance, etc. these payments cannot be paid in cash.
I think some people have an opinion about this card without knowing the full facts. It is the elders or leaders of Indigenous communities who have asked for these cards, so concerned are they about the neglect and abuse of children and in some cases women in their communities. This abuse stems in many cases from the men in these communities using the money for alcohol, gambling (& drugs), both increasing the likelihood of family violence and also leaving no money that can be spent on food, medicine, clothing & other essentials for both women & particularly children, who cannot fend adequately for themselves. What about their right to access these basic human rights that are being taken away by members of their own community for their own self indulgence? I recall watching a YouTube clip of a Q&A episode on the ABC interviewing Aboriginal leaders in support of the initiative. For more information, these are just a few of many links on the subject:
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2015/s4330129.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2015/s4287433.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2015/s4275331.htm
If this card goes through my girls and I miss out on swimming lessons (which is essential), basketball (which is essential), shopping at op shops, shopping at farmers markets, the odd lunch order so my kids dont get teased at school, excursions, paying for repairs of clothes and alterations, purchasing of second hand uniforms at the uniform shop and many many things I cant thinkof at the moment bbecauseim under so much stress about this card.
Yep how sad, just another way for the government to control its own people!
The government has attempted to introduce income-management for welfare-recipients in various forms in recent years. In spite of several failures, an apparent determination to push the idea through suggests a desire to control the spending of all welfare-recipients.
This latest round of trials strongly suggests that the stated aim of income-management - to help drug, alcohol and gambling addicts manage their money - is a ruse. The unexplained expansion of the subject-group to include all working-age welfare recipients lays the foundations for the rapid introduction of the scheme across the entire welfare-system with a minimum of due-process. That is morally questionable and socially very dangerous.
As for the logistics of income-management and the use of any of the associated cards, there are many practical reasons why the system will not work. A major problem is that the system is aimed at creating a one-size-fits-all model when the life-situations that welfare-recipients must deal with vary greatly, as do the means by which they cope with them. For income-management to work there must also be considerable work done in establishing secure pathways to shelter and opportunity. In its present form, income-management borders on economic apartheid.
If compassion is a measure of the intelligence of society and its leadership this 'welfare' card reflects a disturbing lack of genuine cognitive abilities. Translated this means, 'God help us all'
If we were forced onto this card my family would be destroyed. It is already hard enough just to make ends meet each fortnight with my wife on the DSP and me being her full time carer and raising 2 kids. At the moment we are able to eat well with a lot of fresh produce etc and able to pay all of our bills etc on time along with our rent but on this card all of that would change and that they way this card is at present we would be kicked out onto the street's within 3 months and would have to eat food from cans etc. We do not do drugs, we do not drink booze etc but we would be placed in the same category as those who do. Our biggest fear is that our children will suffer under this card and to me this is a direct personal attack on my family which I vow to destroy those who support it.
I believe that the "healthy welfare card" is a form of abuse. A contravention of human rights. Stripping away a vulnerable persons dignity and right to choose. A government needing to control those weaker exactly correlates with abuse of power. A "healthy welfare card" could only be helpful for those who have addiction problems, who are unable to properly manage their payments, not for those who just so happen to be unfortunate enough to need government financial support.
Just another way for the government to control people and their spending.
I support sole parents on Facebook. Many are very worried about this card as they have been forced into some dodgy accommodation after being moved onto Newstart. They pay their rents in cash. This would make them homeless!!
They survive by buying their food at farmers markets and buying items second hand through Facebook buy swap and sell sites and op shops. They will not have enough to do this. How will they be able to buy second hand school books and uniforms? Especially now the school kids bonus is being scrapped!
Newstart has not been raised in over 21 years. This is the issue. Poverty breeds lack of hope. Give these people job opportunities, proper welfare programs with services helping them to get their lives on track. Give these people that struggle with these addictions reasons to live!!
Most welfare recipients also do the right thing. Why punish everyone for the acts of the few?
Those on welfare are the best busgeters I've seen! This will only cause more hardship and increase dependency.
Centrepay works and is much less expensive to run. Gives people ownership of their money and lives. Take away this and what do they have left? Nothing!!
The development of this cashless welfare card has been a sham from beginning to end. Sham consultations, the use of confected statistics, a local Mayor gifting Minister Tudge a bottle of Penfolds Bin 707. The general public need to have a good hard look at this trial and its development, Only then can they meaningfully indicate whether they support this trial or not.
Suffice to say, supporters ought to put themselves in the shoes of others. I know plenty of people who have no substance abuse issues whatsoever, and yet are mandatorily subject to the Ceduna trial. It is a travesty that goes against the Liberal Party philosphy and its ethics. Bob Menzies would roll over in his grave if he saw this mandatory casjhless welfare card program. A shame, really
if this was imposed on me, I would lose my house.......in a very literal sense.
20% will hardly go anywhere, and not all bills can be paid via this card
this is about control
I have no idea how ,, I would live with this .
I'm 61 , old . Disabled , I shop op shops , farmers markets , second hand , anything to save a few cents .
How on earth could I do this ?