Basics card?

[~clover~]

There is so much hype on FB at the moment about the crackdown on welfare recipients & this basics card.

Can someone explained all this any better to me? I can't read anymore bull dust comments about single mothers for the little bit of info I might find & the kids are amused on the PC.

This basics card... They're not just going to put anyone & everyone on it are they? From what I gather, your payment is put on a card you can only use at certain places, for certain things. No cash withdrawals.
So our school doesn't have eftpos? How would school camps etc be paid for? I wouldn't even be able to send my kids with a gold coin donation, or allow them tuckshop!

How do people pay for car repairs/tyres etc if not in the vicinity of an approved place?

I just want to make sure I won't end up on one... They can drug test me til They're blue in the face, but I can't not be allowed to carry cash...

[Artechim]

The Humanservices . govt. au website seems to sum it up - looks like people can opt to (or presumably be ordered to) go on an Income management plan and then an arranged portion of your income goes onto the card. I imagine for the average person doing fine it won't be an issue but it will be a tool to ensure that people can't repeatedly blow their entire benefit on the pokies or vice materials to the detriment of their kids. Looking at the help centre locations, it looks like it is going to be largely aimed at Aboriginal communities.

[briggsy's girl]

It's slowly being rolled out. It's not all your cash that goes on the card. You can nominate an amount to go direct to bills (like rent, elec, gas, etc) - with what is left over, a percentage of it is paid to your account as cash to do with what you want. The remainder is out on a card and restrictions apply as to what you can purchase (no booze, smokes etc). And it can only be spent at set retailers.
The percentage of your money that goes on the card is dependent on your circumstances. Generally it's half the money - so once gas, elec, rent etc are paid, half of what is left goes on your card for essentials, half as cash. But there are some circumstances where it is a larger percentage (people under monitoring by child protection for instance)

At the moment it has primarily been rolled out in indigenous/remote communities up noth and over west. It isn't restricted to indigenous people though - if you reside in an area under income management it will likely apply to you. It is something that is being trialled - some areas have gone through compulsory income management and now have voluntary/opt in options. As much as there seems to be massive negativity I social media, a lot of people who have the option to opt out don't. It seems to work quite well for a lot of people

I don't know if the current government plans to continue expanding the area that is covered by the basics card/income management. It has been floating around that it would go Australia wide at some point but I honestly don't know what the current stance on it is

[Catastrophic]

I think it's a fantastic idea. Ensure that rent and bills are paid, food is brought and give he rest as left overs. Wonderful idea.

[~clover~]

But what if your income is already managed?

I'm only asking in case they decide to make it compulsory.

My water, rent & bond loan etc are all paid via centrepay. Power, phone, insurance are paid via bank transfer. Anything else is paid as it comes up, because it's not regular.

I like that everything is taken care of & I don't have to think about it. Can you set up transfers like these with the card? Why not just make people set these things up on centrepay?

I'm in an area where I highly doubt anyone will accept it. I know IGA don't, & that's all I have for 2 hours minimum.

I understand people in close contact with DCP/DoCS etc would definitely benefit. But I don't feel it'd be fair for those of us who are taking care of our families.

If I could use it for savings, I might think about it. But I hear advance payments will be put on the card.
If I get an advance I use it for rego, Christmas, or a trip away. Rego will probably be covered by the card, but I have to travel for shops, I do all my shopping online for this reason. Will I still be able to do that?

And much to some peoples disgust I should have the right use an advance to take my kids away if I please. That wouldn't be easy with all my money being on the card.



Just my thoughts. I see the positives, but I don't feel I fall under that category, so I don't feel I should be forced to use it.
I realise it's all just talk at the moment & that it may not even happen.

[briggsy's girl]

Advance payments are income managed the same way as other payments. So if 50% of your payment goes to basics cars, 50% of your advance goes to basics card
Basics card won't be rolled out in areas that don't have stores that accept the cards. This is why it hasn't been a whole of Australia immediately on this approach. The governer make sure there are atores that accept payment before they set it up. There is also a lot of loading done with water boards and any other companies to try and make it so that as much as possible can be paid similarly to centrepay.

No, you can't use basics card for online shopping. Your cash portion would need to be used for that. Holidays would be the same - at least the portion of the holiday that included travel expenses etc. if you were going somewhere that had basics card shops for food, you could use the card for that


Centrepay is voluntary. And many people won't use it. Yes, a large portion of people do the right thing and pay their bills and feed their kids and pay rent af life goes on. But unfortunately, there are a large number of Australians that don't. And it would be impossible to pick and choose who goes on income management in each area. So when it rolls out, everyone on income support goes onto it in that area. It may not be ideal for those already doing the right thing and budgeting ok, but government departments can't check very individual budget and decide yay or nay on moving people across...

[Artechim]

I wonder if that will lead to people moving away from those income managed areas to other places where they can have access to all their money?

[briggsy's girl]

there will always be people that do stuff like that - but for the most part, people on income support payments can't afford to just up and move however far away to avoid something like this - not sure about other peoples experiences, but i found moving far too exxy and stressful! even now, every time our rent goes up, we sit there going "we really should move somewhere cheaper" but then we factor in things like moving expenses, new bond, rent in advance, extra travel to work etc and decide the extra 5 or 10 bucks a week to stay put is worth it lol
i would feel the same about income management - it would annoy me that i'd have to change a few things about how we live - but i'd do it rather than stress about moving (and i'm saying this as someone who has been on income support since becoming a parent and having to move due to finances being in the toilet - it would have potentially meant shopping at different shops, but it would be a mild inconvenience)

[AnyDream]

Interesting thread. I just hope that someone is scrutinizing the approved retail stores - otherwise it's a licence for them to hike their prices up.

[briggsy's girl]

Interesting thread. I just hope that someone is scrutinizing the approved retail stores - otherwise it's a licence for them to hike their prices up.

My understanding is that any retailer that is found to not be meeting obligations or profiteering is removed from the approved listed quickly

[~clover~]

I'm a bit disappointed that from what I've seen only woollies & Coles seem to be on board as far as supermarkets go. Of the bigger chain stores anyway. That would add to a lot of cutting out of the little guy. But then, if they notice a difference, I guess they can become an approved retailer can't they?

As I said, I'm 2-3 hours from any major chains. Good to know I shouldn't need to worry about it here.

I have to say, if I was still in NSW, on the east coast, it probably wouldn't bother me so much. I know I could access approved stores over there. Here, I know my options would be extremely limited. And the costs for travel I wouldn't handle.

Thanks for explaining BG I'm still not a fan of it being forced on everyone, but now I know more, and that I wouldn't be completely screwed over, I'm more ok with it

[Abigail]

It would bother me a lot if this was brought in across the board. Is there anyway that you can opt out if it does get brought in? I don't do centrepay, why? because I budget our income down to the cent, its all balanced on a very fine time frame and it works for me. I like having control of what is paid and when, sometimes its a case of something doesn't get paid in week one, but paid in week two. It depends what bills have come in as to what goes where and when. I need to have the flexibility to control that. Maybe thats just me though. I guess we aren't really the people its targeted. All our bills get paid first and foremost and then whatever is left over (HAHA) is squirrelled away. There aren't many holidays (if any) in this house

We wouldnt be able to afford to move away if this came into place in our area. I want to move now but all our funds were used up last time.

I don't like change. Especially when it comes to having how I can pay for our bills dictated to me. Oh well, what can you do.

[~Kim~]

We have it here. The whole Territory has it as far as I know and it works really well. Here it's great because you can't buy grog with it. They have to use their other money for that (and they still do - and before you think I'm all high and mighty, come and visit and you'll know why it's an issue).
All our IGAs take it, no different to eft really for them. It works here to keep money for the 'necessities'.

[briggsy's girl]

IGA stores have definitely opted in up North. As have a lot of "corner stores" and petrol station/convenience stores.

[~Kim~]

Target, Kmart, family owned stores...heaps.

[~clover~]

All I have here is IGA. So if they were on board, all good. But Kmart, Target, Big W etc... anywhere I do chistmas/birthday shopping is 2 - 3 hours away. I buy online, coz I can't afford to come & go, especially not with 4 kids. We don't even have a chemist here... I have to either travel 2 hours for DD's meds, get someone else to pick them up, or put them on the bread truck. Would I be able to use the card over the phone for these things??

I buy alcohol... and a pack of cigarettes every week or fortnight IF I can afford it. But I've also grown up where alcoholism etc is a problem. So I get that. And I wouldn't say it wasn't a good idea for those people. But I see that they can't really go case by case too...

I don't have a choice with centrepay, being in government housing. There are only 2 single mothers in town here. We're the only 2 at the moment who rely on government payments to survive. Others may get top ups on occasion, but the majority of the town here is above the income limit. That's why I can't see any of our local shops agreeing to the card. They won't need too. So what would I do if that happened?

I don't know. I'm like Abigail... if there's a school camp, or photo's or something, I'll put something off til the next week or fn to cover what ever it is that needs covering. I like being able to do that. These are just little details of MY life that I'm thinking about & how it will effect ME.

[briggsy's girl]

Given the lack of people on payment on your town, chances are it would be deemed low priority to switch you over. The areas that have so far been switched are, from what I can personally gather, areas of lower socioeconomic background, with high proportion of the population reliant on government payments to survive - and these areas also have high incidences of alcohol problems etc. it's definitely nt something I can see the government saying tomorrow "let's roll it out Australia wide" as it's not easy to do... I won't say it won't be done, but I personally doubt it given the logistics. My personal belief is that anything like this being rolled out would, as it has done already, continue to be rolled out gradually and would likely target (for want of a better word) at risk communities first

[trishalishous]

Interesting thread. I just hope that someone is scrutinizing the approved retail stores - otherwise it's a licence for them to hike their prices up.

My issue is that the local fruit and veg/meat/fish farmers at the markets dont take the basics card, (nor would the local mums selling second hand clothes for the kids) so my shopping would be all done at a major retailer, rather than a local business.
Sure I can use the disposable income for that, but what about the money thats still tied up on the basics card, which I wont use.
I could buy stuff from woolies for fun, and sell on the local buy/sell page to get 90% of the cost back, right?