Alan Tudge to be met with protests over ‘welfare card’
Snap rallies are planned for Human Services Minister Alan Tudge’s visit to Hinkler this week.
LNP MP Keith Pitt is pushing to bring the Welfare Debit Card to the entire Hinkler Electorate. Hinkler includes all towns from Bundaberg down to Hervey Bay and including River Heads to the Maryborough border. This is the biggest area being proposed for roll out of the card.
In the media this last 3 weeks, Keith Pitt has claimed “a steering committee” will be deciding which payments will be included in the “trial”. Yet when pushed on his Facebook page with reasonable questions from concerned residents from all the towns involved, all comments not in support were deleted.
Likewise, any comments containing references to the Indue Terms and Conditions or the DSS Trigger payments that show that Keith Pitt was changing position or reworking his claims from day to day.
Following “Tudge’s Fudges” we see “Pitt’s Porkies”. Most fibs and spin seem to originate with the LNP Federal Minister.
Recently Keith Pitt asked for a poll in the Newsmail Bundaberg paper that was greeted with an 84% NO vote. Not satisfied with that, Pitt then used taxpayers’ funds to seek a selected postal vote. Some residents reported that there were 2 different letters sent to homes, some with the ability to vote yes/no, others with no choice.
After 3 weeks of local and national media interest, Mayor Allan Suter from Ceduna jump into the Newsmail and Fraser Coast Chronicle repeating the same rhetoric and spin.
Considering the amount of information and reports that have been shown to the public in the region as to how well we are seeing Ceduna and their people suffering under the loss of autonomy and the costs to business and reputation to Ceduna. Mayor Suter and Keith Pitt are reading from the same song book and ignoring the public views already being shown in the comments on all media Facebook pages of either the Fraser Coast Chronicle or Newsmail Bundaberg pages.
Saturday 3rd June saw a huge full-page advert promoting the card. It quoted a 25% pass rate from the incomplete and unpublished Orima Report. The very same unpublished report cites a 77% fail rate. 49% of the people surveyed in CDC Wave report said it has made their lives worse. 4 out of 5 said it made their children’s lives worse. At least one business owner now $100,000 out of pocket and facing closure after 87 yrs servicing the customers of the town of Ceduna.
It is claimed that income management does not allow enough flexibility for people to manage their own affairs. Once Indue has control of welfare money, card holders can only access a balance and a number to beg to be able pay bills not listed. They must wait to see if they will be permitted.
Given slow processing times, it is not exactly working just like any other debit card.
This week there will be actions to stop the card from coming to the Hinkler Electorate:
Monday Evening 5 June 2017 at 5.30pm in Bundaberg is a public meeting and rally at the Bundaberg Bowls Club, 21 Quay St Bundaberg.
Event link on the No Cashless Debit Card Facebook Page or on Leanne Donaldson State ALP Member for Bundaberg’s Facebook page.
Wednesday 7 June Alan Tudge will be visiting for an early coffee with “select business” to reassure them that they will thrive under the card.
Ceduna businesses received similar assurances before they began to fail). This business meeting is from 7am-8am at the bookshop next to the Torquay Post Office. The public have not been invited.
Members of the public will nonetheless be arriving at 6.45 am on the footpath outside the Torquay Post Office for a snap rally action.
Greet Mr Tudge and show him how we see his Fudges!
Thursday 8 June 2017, we have 2 community events.
Public rally and meeting at the Hervey Bay Community Centre. We have a lunch time session at 1pm for families and people who cannot get there in the evening.
A similar 5.30 pm session for working people and other smaller business sole operators that were not included in the “select” invite for business with Alan Tudge.
This event is being organised by George Seymour, Deputy Mayor Fraser Coast Council, and supported by the No Cashless Debit Card Hinkler Facebook page.
Why attend?
So far the public voice is being ignored. Select groups are already being hand-picked for the “steering committee”. Do we accept this process? Who should determine the level of “steerage” Keith Pitt foists on our region?
The region consists of approx 18 towns across the electorate, with the focus on Bundaberg and Hervey Bay. It may be quietly expanded to include Wide Bay region next.
Given the experience in current trial sites, it seems fair to conclude that our region does not want the card. It is paternalistic and disempowering. It brings division of our community and the segregation of people purely based on their economic circumstances. There is already enough shaming of people and constant media attacks on people not working or too sick to work.
The card is not only cruel but also jeopardises local small businesses, the well-being of our people, their physical and mental health.
Many are worried about being left homeless as Indue Terms and Conditions are not compatible with flexibility. The terms remove choices every other citizen enjoys.
This LNP attack on our most vulnerable to relegate people on Centrelink to “steerage class” within our society is disgusting to say the least. Classism redundant since WW2 is re-emerging. Moreover, Indue and shareholders will profit from that same disadvantage.
We are still the citizens of this country; we are human beings not commodities for non-elected billionaires and their mates to make more money from.
This program is entrenching poverty and forcing people to become totally dependant on a system outside the Social Security sector.
Privatisation of the Social Security Safety Net By Stealth (by exaggerating rates of addiction among those on welfare) is wrong. Welfare is set so far below the poverty line that feeding children is already a challenge. The Indue card, which is tied to expensive supermarket chains, will not make that any easier.
Many parents are on DSP or are Carers. School leavers may never experience autonomy or privacy as all stakeholder associated groups will have access to everyone’s’ Centrelink, Medical and Financial Information.
This is not a free Australia. If they plan to roll this out across the country, piece by piece, town by town, region by region, how long before full time workers realise what is going to come of this, after all people working part time receiving any of the “trigger” payments will also be on the card.
“Creating Parity” was used as one of the catch cries for the Indue Welfare Debit Card. In reality the card does the opposite. It reinforces disparity. The card effectively identifies, labels and publicly segregates people from all ages 16-64 not in full time work right at the checkout. It divides our community and society and creating social and financial exclusion from access to normal living. Making every dollar stretch becomes harder. It prevents purchase of secondhand goods privately from FB buy sell sites, markets and private people and smaller business that do not take card.
It will have a detrimental effect on our local economy. We are a seasonal tourist region, but local business still need money coming in the door in the off season. The multinationals will be receiving the profits and the $$ while our local’s business are at risk.
We ALL pay taxes. Forty-five per cent of people over the age of 40 are already out of work. Most have worked and paid income taxes and still pay the normal taxes everyone else does. Thirty-five per cent of people on Newstart are already working but cannot get enough hours to break free from the Centrelink Job Agency Trap. We are not “bludgers” and “loafers”, nor “layabouts” and “lackeys”. We are families, parents, disabled, youth carers. Above all, we are the people of Australia. To remove us from the economy of our regions and funnel the “welfare money” away from our economy is stupid at best. It will not make up for the governments’ failure to create jobs, fund training. Nor will it address any impacts of austerity cuts to vital public services. Indue is no substitute for appropriate supports like: drug rehabilitation, shelters, public housing, adequate mental health and more. $53million has been removed from the Maryborough Dental Unit alone.
To then blame the people in the regions for not having jobs is just an insult.
For local First Nations People, this is no more than history repeating as they are once again returned to what they call the “whiteman’s card” or “rationcard”.
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30 comments
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Jagger -
Michael -
Freetasman -
Matters Not -
Michael Taylor -
diannaart -
Matters Not -
diannaart -
Freetasman -
Sir Scotchmistery -
Michael Taylor -
Mandy Croft -
Matters Not -
diannaart -
Matters Not -
diannaart -
Tina Clausen -
Bill -
Kaye Lee -
Matters Not -
Matters Not -
Kaye Lee -
Matters Not -
Kaye Lee -
Matters Not -
helvityni -
helvityni -
Michael Taylor -
Freethinker -
diannaart
Return to home pageGreat to see some people fighting “slavery” , however there’s been a growing epidemic of FUJIA in this country , it has increased rapidly in the last twenty years. F–k U Jack I’m Alright.
A continuation of the classic case of Have’s v’s Have Not’s – policy failure = freedom strangulation
The only time we are ALL equal and ALL as powerful as each other is limited to the 3 voting days every 3-4 years where: 1 vote = 1 value, we are the same, at the grass roots – in between we surrender our power to money, delusions of power, greed, fear mongering, all under the banner of “I know what is good for you”, faux “community consultation” (= turd polishing) and besides, tough luck, “you voted me/I was voted in”.
What’s missing? – is a mechanism to restore the sliding and abuse of power away from you and me to the point of feelings of helplessness and having to “protest” in any demeaning manner available (to which at best is lip service and worst insulting name calling, mindless ideology, avoidance of eyeballing and transparency at any cost) all the while we are forced to use our spare time, those in “charge” are paid by us to act as trustees of public property (both real and rights) on behalf of ALL of us.
Let us also not forget (detailed elsewhere on AIMN) that this debit card was created by/within the NLP and sold for a profit – with enduring licence fees based on turnover??? I wonder.
I would openly and loudly challenge Tudge and Pitt to live on the debit card for 1 month and let’s then have a “feet on the ground” chat.
I lived in that district for 10 years and I can tell the card will bring disaster to all the towns and also affect the local business.
I hope that the electorate will weak up and vote out politicians like Pitt.
When I lived there ( 6 years ago) many people believe that Joe was the best leader in the state history, just wonder what they are thinking now about his party.
Yep when ‘fake’ news is created and published it will live forever apparently.
MN, this is a protest about the card.
The pro ‘free-market’ libertarian neo-con philosophy that dominates our big “L” Liberal party is really a form of fascism dressed up to look all ‘purty’.
In the case of Alan Tudge, he is free to discriminate against the least powerful. He represents Libertarian Brutalism in action: “don’t do as I do, do as I tell you (it’s for your own good, blah, blah, blah)”.
The LNP embraces a philosophy that cloaks itself as about freedom of the individual, but not ALL individuals, some individuals are freer than others. The ironically named Welfare Debit Card is the most in-your-face evidence of the lack of care right-wing governments impose on communities, on us. If your income is well above average, you are safe, but don’t ever let circumstances change so that you become a ‘leaner’ because the LNP have ways of dealing with leaners…
The post above was advancing a fake assertion. One that never been proved. Aren’t corrections allowed?
As for the trial of the card in Hinkler, I suspect it won’t get past first base but I am glad that Keith Pitt has outed himself.
Then again that area has elected some real nutters into State Parliament.
@ Matter Not
Go right ahead, please explain.
I just was reading the Bundaberg local paper about the card and see that Brian Courtice (ALP former member) also support the card.
His arguments are here:
https://www.news-mail.com.au/news/children-going-hungry-in-hinkler-opinion/3185772/
It appears to me that he cannot see what is the line between freedom and controlling people life.
I think Tudge would look great in the centre of the effects of a javelin. In fact pop one into the LNP shit-sandwich party room.
MN, I was being smug. ?
However, I apologise for this out-of-character behaviour.
I was given a direct answer by a sec. in tudges office that there were no plans to extend it beyond three areas – that is not one of them
pre budget
diannaart: a few points. Certainly not in favour of this card – universally applied. Particularly, when geographic location becomes the crucial determinant without reference to particular circumstances. My main concern is the relatively powerless children. In Queensland, for example, 40% of the children in care are Aboriginal. Statistically, more than 8 times expected in a ‘normal’ population distribution. Such disproportionate numbers suggest significant problems.
Further, experience demonstrates removing children from families en masse is bad policy, even worse in the longer term. Also know that simply ‘looking the other way’ is untenable. Immoral and all that. Best to try and improve their current situation. That’s where the card can be of value. Sure, tensions and problems abound but doing nothing is unacceptable’ Thus – children first. In home – best -wherever ‘possible’.
Other thing that gives me the sh@ts is wrongly attributed political motivations. Claims made that Indue, the contracted company charged with distributing payments, was set up by LNP members or donors to channel profits into party coffers. A claim without a shred of evidence other than Larry Anthony was member of the Board.
So why does the LNP go in this direction? Local members get their feedback (largely) from (social) meetings with those of like minds. It’s an echo chamber. All politicians need someone to blame. Politicians need enemies. Windmills to charge. Straw men to demolish – and so on. ‘Bludgers’ resonate. As do welfare recipients. Easy targets and easy solutions. Hence welfare cards. That’ll learn them. And aren’t I doing a wonderful job. Vote for me and donate now. QED.
Opposition case never advanced when bullshit explanations are advanced. The Indue plot being the evidence on the table.
@ Matters Not
I do not disagree with any of the points you have made.
You ask “So why does the LNP go in this direction?” and your answer is that they live in an echo chamber wherein they simply feedback their own beliefs back at each other. I agree.
My comment was about the motivation for the authoritarian behaviour of the LNP – many of whom declare themselves to be libertarians. I find this to be hypocritical without consideration of how these conservative people interpret libertarianism. It is a selfish interpretation, it is freedom for the privileged but not the vulnerable.
I am not sure how I can make my POV any clearer without further explanation from you as to your claim: The post above was advancing a fake assertion. One that never been proved. Aren’t corrections allowed?
I posted my opinion based upon my observations, knowledge, experience and research – this does not make me 100% correct, however I am as justified to comment here as are you.
diannaart, your post was at 4.22, mine was at 4:26 pm. When my 4.26 post was in the writing, yours wasn’t on my horizon. The post I was referring to was at 3.29 by Michael The words cited from Michael’s 3.29 post were:
That was the ‘fake’ claim I responded to. My post of 4.07 is also relevant.
Clearly misunderstandings all round. My apologies.
As for your 4.22 post, I am in agreement.
Matters not
My application for the Terminally Confused has been submitted.
Cheers
For information about the card go to.
https://m.facebook.com/SAYNOSEVEN/?tn=C
Hey folks.
We here in Hinkler could REALLY use some help.
There are employees and friends of Keith Pitt who are relentlessly slagging off protesters, abusing & berating anyone who dares disagree with the LNP, and are blatantly lying across all forms of media.
Despite Aldi declaring in writing and by direct phone contact that they will NOT be accepting this abomination of a card, Pitt has stated that Aldi are “mistaken”, and his followers are wreaking confusion & misinformation across the area.
Please, if any of you can provide written support through the local papers/FB pages of the Bundaberg News-Mail & Fraser Coast Chronicle, or national papers, it would help us immensely.
This thing will devastate this farming area & wipe out small farm shops. It MUST be stopped!
Thanks in advance.
Bill,
I think Pitt is correct – the cashless welfare card would work at Aldis as it works just like a debit card – it just won’t work at alcohol and gambling venues. The card that doesn’t work is the BasicsCard which they use in the NT.
That does not mean I agree with it and I do think there are repercussions for small businesses that rely on cash like farm shops.
From what I can gather, the card works in normal EFTPOS machines.
Bill
Always prepared to help. But only when presented with facts.
In this case, some links, some direct quotes – something that will stand up to any form of political scrutiny. Something on the written record. Not interpretations. That’s the only condition.
So ‘link’ away. Times and dates would be more than useful. Over to you.
Bill, I will give you an example of what might be needed to run any type of political campaign. You say:
This in writing assertion becomes crucial. Provided it’s in response to a particular issue, relevant to your argument.
What say you? Direct quotes accompanied by date are essential – so that there’s a demonstrated factual basis for your claim. Surely that’s not a problem?
There’s nothing worse than making a claim that can’t be backed up.
MN,
It appears ALDI made the mistake. They posted on their facebook page that they couldn’t process the card in answer to a question a couple of days ago.
https://www.news-mail.com.au/news/aldi-you-cant-use-cashless-card-here/3187804/
KL, there’s interpretations and then there’s interpretations and then there’s this from your link:
(As an aside, here in Queensland, you can’t buy alcohol from an ALDI store. Nor online since they were driven out of that business by other companies.)
But never mind, I’ll have a small wager that Bill won’t be satisfied.
KL, just to be clear, I am not in favour of this ‘card’ when it’s applied universally – particularly when it’s based on geographical location. What seems to be forgotten in this debate is that there are multiple problems that impact on children with delinquent parents. To suggest that it it can all be overcome with ‘counselling’ and the like (necessary as it is) is soft headed nonsense.
Twiggy and Langton made recommendations that go far beyond this current ‘card’ and it didn’t have a racial focus. Langton might be worth a read. Or is she just an Uncle Tom?
That this card will be applied universally in the current political climate is nonsense.
Counselling may have a place but there are a hell of a lot of practical things that could be tried. I have made many suggestions previously so won’t list them again.
Yes there is a problem – or many problems – but the problem doesn’t apply to everyone and this isn’t the solution for everyone who does have a problem. We should deal with individuals. For some people the card may be a good idea but it would work a damn sight better if they chose to have it. For the vast majority, the card isn’t going to help address the underlying issues.
Are you aware that some have? And that some have requested that it be applied to their circumstance(s)?
Agree that we should deal with individuals. that: For some people the card may be a good idea..
Glad to see some nuance at last. Because this debate is surrounded with so much bullshit. You know, Indue making all these enormous profits when the company and all its machines were sold for a mere $6 million. And then there was the claim that Indue was a creature of the LNP and profits directed to same. FFS. Claims without any ‘links’ but accepted anyway. And then magnified without any ‘evidence’.
For me, false claims are counter-productive. Ever wonder why the ALP keeps well clear of this crap? And why it’s not a red hot political issue?
Don’t ban junk food ads during kids’ TV time. Parents and kids must have a choice.
Don’t improve public schools, parents have a choice: public /private.
It’s the usual Aussie catch-phrase; a freedom of choice.
The Aboriginal people do not have this choice. Are we racist?
You don’t need any cards to buy plonk at Aldi; I noticed that you’ll need only $12.99 to buy a box of six, red or white. At least everyone has a choice there, be you black or white.
“Are we racist?”
helvityni, more so now than ever. I think the attitude has always been one of “white superiority” rather than pure racism. Now we have both.
Perhaps I have the wrong impression but I think that apart of racism, the people in the big cities have the attitude “out of side, out of mind” and that not only happens in Australia but in all the countries of the world.
There are so much to learn for the indigenous people………….
helvityni
I think you have made an excellent point regarding so-called “freedom of choice”.
Often choice is available to those who have the means, the power to choose. The lower down the social scale a person lives, the more dependent upon the generosity of others one becomes.
To claim that ALL people have the same rights of choice is a fallacy. This card is only acceptable if people truly choose to use it… to have it forced upon – without providing support, understanding and encouragement. It is not ‘incentivisation’ which is a meaningless term used by the powerful to the powerless, but positive support which enables people rather than further isolates. This is not “soft-headedness” it is basic humanity.