18-12-2014 Proposals by mining magnate Andrew Forrest are labeled ‘demeaning, invasive, unworkable and bureaucratic’ by 37 Aboriginal groups in central Australia. The cashless welfare card, replacing the current Basics Card, would send the message that the poor cannot be trusted with cash. They called on the federal government to reject the recommendation from Forrest. The card can only be used to pay for essentials, like food, school, clothes and petrol. The Australian Bankers’ Association also objected to the card, for technological reasons.
The groups welcomed the “increased investment in many other services for Aboriginal people”.
Forrest also recommends that Indigenous people should work five days a week to get the dole.
More on The Guardian, 14 December 2014
Comment by Wake Up Time: if discrimination would be banned in Australia, as it should, and rules are applied similarly to every citizen, then the welfare card should be introduced either not, or Australia wide. The same applies to proposed extra services and extra conditions for receiving ‘the doll’. Problems will not be solved as long as we keep making a difference between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. It is crucial to stop discrimination and to stop the seemingly unlimited streams of money going from hypocritical miners to Indigenous communities.