Melissa Price caught out on level of support for cashless welfare card

Quote:

Federal MP Melissa Price has been forced to backtrack on her claim WA communities were clamouring for the cashless welfare card after the ABC spoke to several councils who said Ms Price had never even discussed the issue with them. Ms Price and fellow Liberal MP Rick Wilson, whose electorates take in some of the state's most remote communities, told the ABC earlier this week they had both been inundated with requests to introduce the card, which cannot be used to buy alcohol or gamble. Ms Price said she had been "overwhelmed" with requests from communities within her electorate of Durack, the largest in Australia. "I definitely recall conversations with the Shire councils of Cue, Meekatharra, Wiluna just off the top of my head, Carnarvon," she said. "All of those councils have expressed an interest in being involved with the cashless welfare card." But representatives from three of the shires have told the ABC those conversations did not take place. Cue Shire president Ross Pigdon said he was not aware of anyone from his council or shire discussing the introduction of the card with Ms Price in the last 12 months. "She's made comments stating she'd spoken to us and she hasn't spoken to us at all," he said.     "We have no knowledge of speaking to anyone about this cashless welfare card, none whatsoever. "I feel it's a little bit inappropriate. "I've had no conversation, neither has my CEO, we've had no conversations with any politician about the cashless welfare card." Former CEO rejects discussion claim Following questions from the ABC, Ms Price issued a statement which said she was referring to a 2015 conversation with a former CEO of the shire. But former Cue CEO John McCleary, who relocated to the Shire of Upper Gascoyne in late-2015, also said he had not discussed the card with Ms Price while he was CEO. He declined to comment further. Following further questions from the ABC, Ms Price said she was actually referring to a November 2015 presentation she gave to a meeting of six local governments from across the region including Cue, Yalgoo and Meekatharra. In the minutes of this meeting, Mr McCleary is listed as representing the Shire of Cue as its CEO. "I was giving a presentation about the consultation and what it would mean for Geraldton and the Mid West, and it was in that context that we were having a much more general conversation," Ms Price said. "I felt quite confident that all of the people in the room expressed an interest in being considered." But Ms Price is not listed as attending the meeting in the official minutes. She rejected assertions she had falsified support for the card.     "What I probably should have said is at some point these shires have indicated there was an interest and we're now 18 months later," she said. "I guess I should've prefaced that yes, that happened 18 months ago, [but] I certainly didn't make those comments to try and drum up business or to create any mischief for any shire councils, not at all. "The reality is I've got 52 shire councils in my electorate. "I talk to all of them and it is the truth that there's about 50 per cent of them, at some point in time, that have indicated to me they would like to be considered as a trial site." A spokesman for Ms Price later said the presentation to the Murchison councils occurred in a May 2016 meeting, which she is noted as attending.

Federal Government fails to name supporters of cashless welfare card trial

Quote:

Key points: * Greens asked Government to provide names of community leaders involved in discussions over the trial * Government said some members of working groups "requested their names not be provided" * The Coalition has justified the initiative by pointing to consultations with key figures in the locations it operates The Federal Government is refusing to name the "community leaders" it claims support a Centrelink income management trial, amid a push to dramatically expand the program in May's budget. The Cashless Debit Card forces 80 per cent of a person's welfare payments onto the card, which cannot pay for alcohol or gambling or be withdrawn as cash. The Coalition has repeatedly justified the initiative by pointing to consultations with key figures in the locations it operates. But after being pressed by the Greens in Senate Estimates to name those supporters, the Government refused. "The [Human Services] department approached some of the members of the … groups to ask whether they agreed to their names being provided in this response," its statement said. "Some of them requested their names not be provided at this stage." The compulsory program currently operates in two areas with high Aboriginal populations — Ceduna in South Australia and Western Australia's East Kimberley region. Greens Indigenous affairs spokeswoman Rachel Siewert said it was a rubbish response. "People being affected have the right to know who in their community is making the calls that affect their lives so strongly," she said. "Who are the people that are making these decisions? Are they really the people the community considers leaders?" Refusal comes after MP backtracks on claims of support The Government is searching for other communities where welfare quarantining can be rolled out. "We're hoping to see another 10 trial sites rolled out in this year's budget," Kalgoorlie-based federal Liberal MP Rick Wilson said. But fellow WA Liberal Melissa Price was recently forced to backtrack on a claim that communities were clamouring for the card. Several councils told the ABC Ms Price had never even discussed the issue with them. A government-funded report last month found a quarter of drinkers on the card reported consuming alcohol less often and many people had stopped gambling. But the report showed one in two participants said their life was worse because of the card. Less than a quarter of those in the trials said it improved their lives. Support 'across the board' for welfare measure, says Tudge There are three community groups working with the Government to implement the program. Invited by the ABC to name supporters of the measure — including from its working groups — Human Services Minister Alan Tudge named one person. "These community leaders, such as Ian Trust, are well-known figures, highly respected individuals," he said. Mr Trust is the executive director of the Wunan Foundation, an Aboriginal development organisation in the East Kimberley. During a recent visit to the Kimberley, Mr Tudge said support was "across the board". "Whether it be some of the church leaders, the police officers, the supermarket owners, the ambulance drivers, the Indigenous leaders, the non-Indigenous leaders [or] the chamber of commerce," he said. "Anybody who has been out with me and consulted with community leaders out there does know that is the case." Mr Tudge said the Greens' opposition was blindly ideological and demanded the party offer its own solutions to the "welfare-fuelled alcohol abuse" in some Aboriginal communities.

Lying is in their genes you know. ;D ;D

bam I would imagine these Leaders giving advice... would come from very disadvantaged places... 

it stands to reason they do not want to be exposed...

would you like it if a member of your community was looking at ways to prevent you from spending your own welfare.. ::) ::)

it is only discussions   for gods sake if we dont talk about the ills in our society how the hell can we fix anything..

why do the left go to so much trouble to knock everything.......I dont get it with you people...

lets face it we do have a problem.. and yes people do spend their welfare unwisely...then they want to complain the country doesnt do enough for them...


>:( >:( >:( >:(

bloody country does too much.imo

cods wrote on Apr 12^th, 2017 at 1:00pm:

bam I would imagine these Leaders giving advice... would come from very disadvantaged places...  it stands to reason they do not want to be exposed...

No, cods. These people do not actually exist. See first post in this thread for an example.


cods wrote on Apr 12^th, 2017 at 1:00pm:

would you like it if a member of your community was looking at ways to prevent you from spending your own welfare.. ::) ::) it is only discussions   for gods sake if we dont talk about the ills in our society how the hell can we fix anything.. why do the left go to so much trouble to knock everything.......I dont get it with you people... lets face it we do have a problem.. and yes people do spend their welfare unwisely...then they want to complain the country doesnt do enough for them...

Of course the country doesn't do enough. How about CREATING JOBS? We need two million full time jobs in this country, right now.


cods wrote on Apr 12^th, 2017 at 1:00pm:

bloody country does too much.imo

Yes, like the nanny state madness of a mandatory so-called "welfare card".

But they don't do enough of what really matters - creating jobs for Australians. These lazy-arse politicians need to get off their fat, shiny arses and create the two million full time jobs this country urgently needs. Easy access to secure employment does a hell of a lot more to help people than any nanny state intervention. They went to the last election promising "Jobs and growth" but that's an empty slogan.

And here's the thing about this "welfare card" - the contract to supply it was handed out to Indue Pty Ltd without a competitive tender. The national President of the National Party, Larry Anthony, son of Doug Anthony, is a major shareholder and stands to make MILLIONS out of this. That's CORRUPTION!

Bam wrote on Apr 12^th, 2017 at 1:12pm:

cods wrote on Apr 12th, 2017 at 1:00pm: bam I would imagine these Leaders giving advice... would come from very disadvantaged places...  it stands to reason they do not want to be exposed... No, cods. These people do not actually exist. See first post in this thread for an example. can you explain it to me.. its too long cods wrote on Apr 12th, 2017 at 1:00pm: would you like it if a member of your community was looking at ways to prevent you from spending your own welfare.. ::) ::) it is only discussions   for gods sake if we dont talk about the ills in our society how the hell can we fix anything.. why do the left go to so much trouble to knock everything.......I dont get it with you people... lets face it we do have a problem.. and yes people do spend their welfare unwisely...then they want to complain the country doesnt do enough for them... Of course the country doesn't do enough. How about CREATING JOBS? We need two million full time jobs in this country, right now. does ADANI mean anything to you bam?.... ::) ::) ::) cods wrote on Apr 12th, 2017 at 1:00pm: bloody country does too much.imo Yes, like the nanny state madness of a mandatory so-called "welfare card". But they don't do enough of what really matters - creating jobs for Australians. These lazy-arse politicians need to get off their fat, shiny arses and create the two million full time jobs this country urgently needs. Easy access to secure employment does a hell of a lot more to help people than any nanny state intervention. They went to the last election promising "Jobs and growth" but that's an empty slogan. And here's the thing about this "welfare card" - the contract to supply it was handed out to Indue Pty Ltd without a competitive tender. The national President of the National Party, Larry Anthony, son of Doug Anthony, is a major shareholder and stands to make MILLIONS out of this. That's CORRUPTION!

well of course I dont know all about that... but lets be honest bam

a lot of things the govt tries to do get howled down by the left...... they complain about the DEBT yet stop everything that will halt the spending...

you want far too much from the govt.....

what would you have them do???>.

there are jobs out there   100.000 dont even bother to turn up for interviews.... thats how much they give a stuff... and some on here want dole people to get $50 a week increase....do they ever ask where will it come from???

we do have a union problem here bam.. they have too much power.. so its very hard to encourage outsiders to start a business here.. yet when the govt tries to reign them in..

who screams the most?>..

Stop press: politician caught lying. Boy bites dog. NRL to get tough on slapping. Read more in today's SMH.

cods wrote on Apr 12^th, 2017 at 6:08pm:

Bam wrote on Apr 12th, 2017 at 1:12pm: cods wrote on Apr 12th, 2017 at 1:00pm: bam I would imagine these Leaders giving advice... would come from very disadvantaged places...  it stands to reason they do not want to be exposed... No, cods. These people do not actually exist. See first post in this thread for an example. can you explain it to me.. its too long

Try reading it. I'm not going to spoon feed you.

cods wrote on Apr 12^th, 2017 at 6:08pm:

Bam wrote on Apr 12th, 2017 at 1:12pm: cods wrote on Apr 12th, 2017 at 1:00pm: lets face it we do have a problem.. and yes people do spend their welfare unwisely...then they want to complain the country doesnt do enough for them... Of course the country doesn't do enough. How about CREATING JOBS? We need two million full time jobs in this country, right now. does ADANI mean anything to you bam?....

Adani is a company with numerous corrupt dealings that uses the Cayman Islands as a tax haven, and we don't even know WHICH "Adani" entity we are dealing with. This is a company that claims the mine would create 10,000 jobs but in a court case admitted the true number was closer to 1600.

We're spending $1 billion to create 1600 jobs mining a resource that has a dubious long-term future. That's not good value for money.

We could create jobs with less than $15,000 of new money per job, or roughly $10 billion a year to address long-term unemployment. We routinely give corporate welfare that pays more than this per job.

The government can bring unemployment down to 1% if it wanted. It doesn't do this because it suits their corporate masters better to have a huge number of people out of work at all times. They then mislead the public about the extent of the problem by fudging the "official" unemployment numbers. Both sides of politics do this due to their adherence to discredited neoliberal doctrine.

It actually seems like it's just accepted practice the libs are full of chit after Tony the basher of women​ abort , Labor don't seem to be capitalising on this , i will make sure this changes , we don't just want the landslide of all landslides victory  :)

Its time wrote on Apr 12^th, 2017 at 8:32pm:

It actually seems like it's just accepted practice the libs are full of chit after Tony the basher of women​ abort , Labor don't seem to be capitalising on this , i will make sure this changes , we don't just want the landslide of all landslides victory  :)

Recent opinion polling would disagree with you.  :)

Bam wrote on Apr 12^th, 2017 at 8:52pm:

Its time wrote on Apr 12th, 2017 at 8:32pm: It actually seems like it's just accepted practice the libs are full of chit after Tony the basher of women​ abort , Labor don't seem to be capitalising on this , i will make sure this changes , we don't just want the landslide of all landslides victory  :) Recent opinion polling would disagree with you.  :)

I disagree , this dog chit government deserves a number in the low 30s

Its time wrote on Apr 12^th, 2017 at 9:01pm:

Bam wrote on Apr 12th, 2017 at 8:52pm: Its time wrote on Apr 12th, 2017 at 8:32pm: It actually seems like it's just accepted practice the libs are full of chit after Tony the basher of women​ abort , Labor don't seem to be capitalising on this , i will make sure this changes , we don't just want the landslide of all landslides victory  :) Recent opinion polling would disagree with you.  :) I disagree , this dog chit government deserves a number in the low 30s

We're halfway there. That's where their primary vote is at.

Bam wrote on Apr 12^th, 2017 at 8:04pm:

cods wrote on Apr 12th, 2017 at 6:08pm: Bam wrote on Apr 12th, 2017 at 1:12pm: cods wrote on Apr 12th, 2017 at 1:00pm: lets face it we do have a problem.. and yes people do spend their welfare unwisely...then they want to complain the country doesnt do enough for them... Of course the country doesn't do enough. How about CREATING JOBS? We need two million full time jobs in this country, right now. does ADANI mean anything to you bam?.... Adani is a company with numerous corrupt dealings that uses the Cayman Islands as a tax haven, and we don't even know WHICH "Adani" entity we are dealing with. This is a company that claims the mine would create 10,000 jobs but in a court case admitted the true number was closer to 1600. We're spending $1 billion to create 1600 jobs mining a resource that has a dubious long-term future. That's not good value for money. We could create jobs with less than $15,000 of new money per job, or roughly $10 billion a year to address long-term unemployment. We routinely give corporate welfare that pays more than this per job. The government can bring unemployment down to 1% if it wanted. It doesn't do this because it suits their corporate masters better to have a huge number of people out of work at all times. They then mislead the public about the extent of the problem by fudging the "official" unemployment numbers. Both sides of politics do this due to their adherence to discredited neoliberal doctrine.

what and where are these jobs the govt could create???..  I am very interested 

we know the machine age is almost dead....so where are we heading bam?......

I have not used a BANK in years...just one small item... so whats next?