Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I know from personal experience that it is very difficult. You cannot get your card replaced straightaway, so you have to go into a bank to get cash. If you are only allowed 20 per cent, that is not going to be much cash to get you through until your card is replaced. The government could not answer a question that we asked on notice about bank fees, and now they have come back in a letter to Ms Macklin to say that there are not going to be transaction fees. Who is going to pay for those transaction fees? The financial institution? Is that going to add further to the cost? People have talked about needing cash to participate in a cash economy, particularly when they have a limited amount of funds. People on income support are not poor money managers. My experience is that those living on income support are some of the best money managers you can find because they are living below the poverty line, or very close to the poverty line. They have to take care of every dollar that they have available. They participate in the second-hand goods market. What happens when they go to a restaurant? Now the government is saying that places that sell alcohol, or a gambling establishment, will still be able to use the card. Those products will just be banned. What happens when they sit down and have a meal? The government is saying that people on income management cannot have a meal with a glass of wine.