Cashless plan ‘ will push us back’ Palm rejects welfare card
A POTENTIAL cashless welfare card trial has been met with staunch opposition by Palm Island residents, who argue the move would set the community back by a decade.
Palm Island Mayor Alf Lacey said the community was “tired of the welfare debate” with job creation and economic development opportunities seen as better priorities.
About 100 residents rejected the trial at a community meeting after Herbert MP Ewen Jones said he would back the cards if locals wanted them.
“The meeting was a community conversation about it and whether there was a willingness from families on Palm Island,” Cr Lacey said.
“There is no support for the Basics Card on Palm.
“Given Palm doesn’t have a big economy, people looked at it as ‘ we’ll go back a decade’ to when people would do things in terms of rice, flour, sugar and meat. We would go the full circle.”
The card will be trialled by the end of the year but the Federal Government has yet to decide on which communities will be a part of the trial.
The aim of the Federal Government scheme is to prevent addicts spending welfare money on alcohol, drugs and gambling and will be targeted at communities struggling with welfare dependency.
Cr Lacey said a cashless community was a “one size fits all approach” to issues experienced by individual families.
“Maybe the Government should deal with that family, not the whole community,” he said.
An open day was held on the island yesterday and Cr Lacey said it was a classic example of how Palm was striving to make progress.
“There is a lot of interest in terms of the people wanting to find out more about what Palm is like and the people,” Cr Lacey said.
‘‘ Maybe the Government should deal with that family, not the whole community
CR ALF LACEY