Welfare in Australia Nick Xenophon Team to block cashless welfare card expansion Coalition needs crossbench support in face of Labor and Greens opposition to rollout of quarantined welfare payments Rebekha Sharkie, Nick Xenophon Team lower house MP, says the party wants to see evidence the cashless welfare card achieves its objectives. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAPThe Nick Xenophon Team will not support an expansion of the cashless welfare card, labelling it an “incredibly expensive experiment” that lacks evidence. The government is currently seeking to expand the cashless cards to new sites, in the Kalgoorlie-Boulder region of Western Australia and Bundaberg in Queensland. The government must also deliver wraparound support services into communities alongside the card, she said, because the card itself would not drive behavioural change. Labor has already expressed its opposition to an expansion of the card until there is further evidence of its effectiveness.

Source: The Guardian February 06, 2018 09:00 UTC