#AusUPR20 Score Card: The Cashless Debit Card (CDC) is an extension of the NT Interventionâs âIncome Managementâ policy and is also racially discriminatory, with more than 81% of compulsory recipients Aboriginal. 1/8
The CDC quarantines 80% of cash welfare, it is humiliating and stigmatises Aboriginal people, exacerbating financial hardship and entrenching disempowerment, with independent reviews reporting that it leads to increased violence and crime. 2/8
A lack of technology, phones and repeated power outages have prevented access to funds and food in remote communities. A Coronial Inquiry into Child Suicide heard the CDC was disempowering and a contributing factor. 3/8
The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights considered the CDC limited human rights and disproportionate. Despite being costly, at $10,000 per participant, w/ millions paid to the private company âIndueâ to deliver, its going to regions w/ high Aboriginal populations. 4/8
The Community Development Program (CDP), is also racist in its implementation; of the 35,000 people impacted more than 85% are Aboriginal. It requires remote Aboriginal participants to work for welfare payments, 5/8
has additional obligations and is more onerous than for urban participants. It has applied financial penalties disproportionately, giving these 35,000 people 350,000 penalties over two years, resulting in cuts to payments and causing hunger. 6/8