Social Security (Administration) Amendment (Repeal of Cashless Debit Card and Other Measures) Bill 2022

The majority voted in favour of a motion to pass the bill in the Senate in its amended form. In parliamentary jargon, they voted to read the bill for a third time.

This means the bill will now return to the House of Representatives, where our MPs will decide whether they agree with the amendments. If so, it will be made into law.

What does this bill do?

The bills digest provides the following key points that explain what the bill does and why it was introduced:

• There are two schemes for income support recipients that aim to limit spending on harmful goods such as alcohol, illicit drugs, and gambling. One is the cashless debit card (CDC) program and the other is income management.
• The CDC program currently operates in six areas around Australia — Ceduna (South Australia), Kununurra and Wyndham in the East Kimberly (Western Australia), the Goldfields region (Western Australia), the Bundaberg and Hervey Bay region (Queensland), the Northern Territory, and Cape York (Queensland). In June 2022 it applied to 17,382 people.
• The Bill will abolish the CDC program in line with the Government’s 2022 election commitment.
• The abolition will occur in two stages.
• Certain people who are currently participating in the CDC program may be moved to income management. Others may decide to voluntarily participate in income management.