Report Into South Australian Regional Road Trip : August 2018 Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union (SA Division)

SA DIVISION – Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union (AUWU) Report into South Australian Regional Road Trip : August 2018 Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union (SA Division) Prepared on behalf of AUWU by Hayden Patterson – National Branch Coordinator – [email protected] Published by Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union (AUWU) 17 January 2019 ABN 12 631 338 017 POSTAL ADDRESS : PO BOX 573 GOODWOOD SOUTH AUSTRALIA 5034 WEBSITE : www.unemployedworkersunion.com EMAIL : [email protected] All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages or sections in a review. Some sections have been reproduced with permission from other publishers; for reproduction please contact original publishers. Every attempt has been made to contact individuals included in photographs in this book and to gain permission for their use. Written and edited by : Members of the AUWU : Hayden Patterson, Jeremy Poxon, Peter Pav, David Pav and Janice Lee (Janice Lee is also a researcher from the School of Regulation and Global Governance, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University.). Written with support from the Secretariat of the Accountable Income Management Network. This project was funded by the AUWU, donations from members, friends and supporters of the AUWU through a specifically, dedicated fundraising campaign run by volunteer members of the SA Division of the AUWU. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................................................................... 2 ACRONYMS & DEFINITIONS ............................................................................................................................................................ 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................................................................... 3 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................................................................ 4 1. COMPULSORY INCOME MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIA.................................................................................................... 6 2. THE CASHLESS DEBIT CARD IN CEDUNA ............................................................................................................................. 8 3. WHAT DID WE DO? ................................................................................................................................................................ 10 4. KEY FINDINGS .......................................................................................................................................................................... 12 5. CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................................................................. 15 APPENDIX A: PRELIMINARY REPORT (AUGUST 2018) ................................................................................................................19 APPENDIX B: SURVEY AND INTERVIEW INFORMATION .......................................................................................................... 20 APPENDIX C: LIST OF COMMUNITY ORGANISATIONS CONSULTED ..................................................................................... 22 APPENDIX D: MEDIA COVERAGE ................................................................................................................................................. 23 APPENDIX E: TESTIMONIAL FROM A CEDUNA RESIDENT ....................................................................................................... 24 PAGE 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Authors of this report wish to acknowledge the Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union (AUWU), its members, friends and supporters who specifically donated to the fundraising campaign for this endeavor. They also wish to acknowledge the community members of Ceduna, and the surrounding areas of the far South Western Coastal towns of South Australia for offering their time to be interviewed, recorded, and offering their personal stories and experiences to be memorialised as part of a collective representation of unemployed/underemployed Australians living within vulnerable circumstances who receive some form of income support payments. Thanks also to the planning committee, researchers, and the Adelaide AUWU members and volunteers who generously gave their time, and more to join with the volunteers of the Whyalla and Ceduna Branches of the AUWU in solidarity, and speak to as many community members, organisations and representatives and get a real and current understanding about Compulsory Income Management which has been trialed and expanded in various programs throughout Australia since 2007. The AUWU would like to thank the Maritime Union of Australia – SA Branch, and the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union – SA Branch for attending each regional town stop and support. ACRONYMS & DEFINITIONS ABS – Australian Bureau of Statistics ACOSS – Australian Council of Social Services AIMN – Accountable Income Management Network APNSA – Anti-Poverty Network AUWU – Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union CAC – Ceduna Aboriginal Corporation CALD – Culturally and Linguistically Diverse CCC – Ceduna City Council CDC – Cashless Debit Card CDP - Community Development Program CFMMEU – SA - Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining, and Energy Union – SA Branch CIM – Compulsory Income Management INDUE – the company managing/administering the CDC (Cashless Debit Card) MUA - SA – Maritime Union of Australia – SA Branch NGO – Non-government Organisation SACOSS – South Australian Council of Social Services WCS – West Coast Sentinel – Ceduna Local Paper (Fairfax Media) WFTD – Work for the Dole PAGE 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report explores the experiences of the members of the South Australian town of Ceduna and surrounding communities who are mandatorily participating in the federal government’s Compulsory Income Management1 ‘trial’ of the Cashless Debit Card (CDC). The purpose of this report is to: • Demonstrate the impacts of the CDC on the quality of life, including in relation to individual agency and for individuals struggling with substance abuse, of participants in Ceduna. • Highlight the impacts of the CDC on public perceptions of both income support payments and the Ceduna community. • Propose alternative bottom-up approaches for alleviating social hardship in communities. This report illustrates the detrimental effects of the CDC in Ceduna and surrounding communities from the perspectives of community members (of which trial participants are a significant subset) and service providers. It highlights the flaws of Compulsory Income Management and the resilience of individuals and families subject to such measures. The AUWU makes the following recommendations: (1) That the Cashless Debit Card in its current mandatory form be abolished. If deemed to be a beneficial tool for communities and social services, the card should only be on a voluntary basis or through a court ordered program. (2) That wider and fully inclusive consultation/feedback prior to, and during all Compulsory Income Management ‘trials’ be conducted in participating communities, prioritising the feedback and concerns of income support recipients. (3) That publicly available reports of the findings of the Ceduna ‘trial’ be published periodically for the entire duration of the trial, including (but not limited to): a. Outlining target community outcomes and accessibility/inclusion of community services, b. Collection and analysis of data on community service engagement, and c. Collection and analysis of data and statistics for other targeted/prohibited items and purchases. This report is the first of a series of reports by the AUWU on Compulsory Income Management. The AUWU continues to call for an end to discrimination against income support recipients in Australia, including those subject to Compulsory Income Management programs. 1 Income management programs in Australia operate on either a voluntary, compulsory or mixed basis. For the purpose of this report, we will be focusing solely on compulsory income management in the form of the CDC. PAGE 3 INTRODUCTION In January 2018, the Ceduna Branch Coordinator of the AUWU invited other Branches of the AUWU to visit Ceduna- one of the original trial sites for the Cashless Debit Card (CDC) - in order to gain an understanding of the impacts of this program in the community. As part of this visit, the AUWU surveyed and met residents, business people and service providers. It was important to speak with both participants and non-participants of the mandatory ‘trial’ of Compulsory Income Management in the area, and to observe the effects of the trial ourselves. The CDC is a type f conditional welfare program that aims to alter the behavior of income support recipients by restricting their spending on prohibited items, such as alcohol, drugs, and gambling. It is a punitive approach purported to curb gambling or substance abuse through the proportional limitation of withdrawal of income support payments in cash. Reports,

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