Social security system is ‘belittling’

Australia’s social security system is depreciating, impenetrable and in need of reform, according to the Northern Territory’s leading social and community services body.

The NT Social Services Board is calling on the federal government to abolish all forms of mandatory income management for people assisted.

On Wednesday, a federal parliamentary committee will hear from NTCOSS and other local organizations a Labor plan to abolish the cashless debit card.

Debit cards were introduced by the Liberal-National Coalition in 2016 and implemented in several communities, including Ceduna in South Australia and Cape York in far north Queensland.

Under the program, up to 80% of a person’s social benefits were added to a card and the funds could not be withdrawn in cash or spent on gambling or alcohol.

The Albanian government’s proposal would alienate more than 17,000 welfare beneficiaries from the program.

There is evidence to suggest that large numbers of Territorians do not have any form of social security, NTCOSS head Deborah Di Natale said in a presentation to the committee.

“The comments suggest that many people are giving up because they find the social security system repulsive, humiliating, unfathomably complicated and harmful,” he said.

“The government’s desire to co-design a viable voluntary revenue management program with affected communities will not be hindered by the immediate repeal of mandatory revenue management.”

Yet a prominent group of indigenous experts said revenue management models have been successful in some remote communities.

The Cape York Institute urged the committee not to apply a comprehensive approach, but rather to allow communities to decide for themselves on a model.

The government is consulting with communities about what they want, Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said.

“The cashless debit card was a large-scale revenue management card that was imposed on communities and people who didn’t want it,” he told Sky News Tuesday.

“It had a negative impact on many of these people and the promised positive social outcomes never materialized.”

On Wednesday, the committee will also hear from key organizations such as the Northern Territories Women’s Legal Services, Arnhem Land Progress Aboriginal Corporation, and Darwin’s Wunan Foundation.

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