Cashless Welfare Card

rdf:langString Cashless Welfare Card

rdf:langString Existing trial sites and proposed

rdf:langString Bundaberg

rdf:langString Tennant Creek

rdf:langString Kalgoorlie

rdf:langString Ceduna

rdf:langString Kununurra

rdf:langString Yellow pog.svg

rdf:langString The Cashless Welfare Card, also known as the Indue Card, Healthy Welfare Card or Cashless Debit Card, is an Australian debit card, trialled by the Australian Government from 2016 onwards, which quarantines income for people on certain income support payments to "encourage socially responsible behaviour" by not allowing the owner to purchase alcohol, gamble or withdraw cash. The cards are attached to a separate account managed by Indue into which 80% of the income support payment is paid. In addition, the cashless welfare card only allows users of the card to buy products at approved sellers, that support electronic Mastercard or Visa payments. It cannot stop users from buying restricted goods at shops that sell both restricted and approved goods, such as supermarkets that sell alcohol. Bill payments are set up by Centrelink to automatically be paid by the card. An earlier income management card, the BasicsCard, was trialled in the Northern Territory. The Labor Party promised to end the Cashless Debit Card and make the Basics Card voluntary if it won the 2022 election. In the lead up to the election, Labor claimed that the Coalition government planned to expand the card's use to aged pensioners. As of June 2022, briefings had begun to wind down the Cashless Welfare Card, although the Albanese government has promised to consult with the trial communities, and CDC users in the Northern Territory will transition onto the BasicsCard income management scheme.