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Here we go: Cashless Welfare Bill is back up for debate in the Senate. Will lose my mind about it in this thread 
Up first, @SenatorSiewert and she is pissed: “you can’t raise the rate but you can entrench this punitive approach”
Siewert again points out that, despite 5 years of the cashless debit card trials, there is no evidence of its effectiveness. The crossbench talk a big game of wanting to support “evidence-based policy”, so how in good conscience can they vote yes?
Siewert acknowledges Liberal MP Bridget Archer for going against the government & criticising the card. She says we need more ppl like her in parliament who have lived experience of being on income support — couldn’t fucking agree more
@SenatorSiewert: “I get emails, Facebook messages, tweets every single day of people who have troubles with the cashless debit card.”
“Compulsory income management is an appalling infliction on our social security system”
“Compulsory income management is an appalling infliction on our social security system”
Now, @Malarndirri19 is up: “there is no dignity in families who cannot look after their own” simply because the government has forced them onto a card
@Malarndirri19 talks passionately about her personal battle against the government’s dreadful interventions into First People’s’ lives in the NT, dating back to the 2007 Intervention. This Bill is just more continuation of deeply racist & oppressive policy
@Malarndirri19 calls out the government for their continued failure to consult w/ affected communities: “You have not even spoken and given the opportunity to the ppl of the NT to tell you how they feel about being on the Basics Card.”
This is heartbreaking: @Malarndirri19 pleads with senators, the crossbench, not to vote for the Bill. They have the lives of thousands of people in their hands & they’re gearing up to vote for something that has been proven to hurt communities, particularly Indigenous communities
Can I just say, it’s actually wonderful to see the Greens & Labor both standing up passionately for the disadvantaged — a united front against the government’s racist, classist onslaught
Now, @lidia__thorpe is up: “the sovereign First Peoples of this country are going to be put back on rations. It’s shame.” In the year of our Lord 2020, First Nations’ peoples are going to be put on rations. Let that sink in
“Since our people aren’t property developers or miners, this government gives us nothing” — @lidia__thorpe
“And oh how mad they get when we tell the truth. There is nothing so fragile as white supremacy” — @lidia__thorpe
Good Lord it is wonderful to have her in the chamber
Good Lord it is wonderful to have her in the chamber
“Don’t be fooled when they tell you this is for our benefit — it’s not. Management of our income is racist, colonial nonsense” — @lidia__thorpe
“I love being black. Our people love being black. We are deadly. That’s why they try to control us, right? What we buy, where we try to buy it from...” — @lidia__thorpe
Absolutely encourage you all to watch Lidia’s full speech — it’s fire: https://twitter.com/ausunemployment/status/1336462713833152512
Now, @larissawaters talks about the impact the Card trials are having on ppl in her home state of QLD: “they shared the view that the card has made their lives worse” It’s punitive and it hasn’t helped them find jobs
Now, @larissawaters is making the point that people voting for the card have no idea what it’s like to have to live on income support, to suffer in poverty. Pauline Hanson is interrupting and interjecting — she’s due to speak next, so strap yourself in for vile nonsense
“5 seconds before Christmas, in the middle of a pandemic, in the middle of a jobs crisis, they want to ram this Bill through...I cannot even fathom this government anymore” — @larissawaters
I’m choosing not to quote anything Pauline Hanson is currently spewing — it’s the usual shit: demonising poor people, Indigenous peoples, as addicts. Fuck giving this white supremacist ghoul any oxygen
Now a palate cleanser from @JessWalshVic: “the Bill is a stalking horse for a national roll-out of the Cashless Welfare scheme.”
“We know this government has an ideological obsession with income management regardless of the facts, regardless of the evidence.”
“We know this government has an ideological obsession with income management regardless of the facts, regardless of the evidence.”
Importantly, @JessWalshVic references a recent report on the Ceduna trial site, saying the Card is producing no community benefits. The government has been consistently & cynically imposing the Card on Ceduna for 5 years, using it as a testing site to roll the card out nationally
“This scheme is no different to robodebt. Because the government knows it doesn’t work.”
“This is a government that relentlessly pursues poor people and drives them into the ground.” — @JessWalshVic
“This is a government that relentlessly pursues poor people and drives them into the ground.” — @JessWalshVic
It’s @MehreenFaruqi time: “This rubbish card and this rubbish Bill is all about controlling the lives of some people.
The lives they want to control are the lives they don’t think are deserving of the same rights & dignity as they are”
The lives they want to control are the lives they don’t think are deserving of the same rights & dignity as they are”
Now, @nitagreenqld: she says that ppl on the cashless card trial sites in QLD are not being listened to by their local members, who cowardly, & silently, voted the Bill through in the lower house
“It is hard to step up and step out of poverty when you are treated like dirt by this government” — @nitagreenqld
I don’t understand why our government would want to embarrass people. Government is meant to lift people up, not make them feel bad about themselves”
I don’t understand why our government would want to embarrass people. Government is meant to lift people up, not make them feel bad about themselves”
Senator Green spoke incredibly powerfully about growing up in a single parent household. Senators Thorpe & McCarthy have also spoken brutally from the heart. They’re doing the best we can hope for, in trying to change the hearts & minds of the crossbench
