Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

The very nature of this amendment is that if people do not wish to go onto the cashless debit card there is no requirement for them to do so. What I'm seeking to do by this particular amendment is to say to people—we will certainly provide everybody who is currently on the BasicsCard with the information about the increased functionality of the cashless debit card. The comparison between the two cards is quite stark. I know you've bothered to inform yourself around the two different cards. One of the biggest issues that was raised initially with the rollout of the cashless debit card, when it was clearly obvious that that's what it was—it had a big 'Indue' written on the front of it, and, similarly, the BasicsCard is lime green and people have to use a BasicsCard terminal—is that it is quite obvious to anybody and everybody if somebody has one of these cards. The cashless debit card now does not have any identification on it to indicate that it is a cashless debit card. It is just a silver card.

One of the technological advancements that is being put in place and worked on—once again I give a shout-out to Senator O'Sullivan, who has been working with a number of the technology operators and the wider community—is to make it available so that people can actually have the card on their phone, so they just tap and pay. In doing so you remove any obviousness of the fact that the payment method that the person is using to buy their items is actually an income management card.

The technology is very advanced. In the process of consulting with communities and making the offering we will seek to put to people who are on the BasicsCard the increased functionality that is available to them. There are 16,000 outlets that will take the BasicsCard; over 900,000 outlets will take the CDC. You can use the CDC online. You can use the CDC to make overseas purchases. So the actual functionality of the cashless debit card is significantly enhanced from the BasicsCard that is currently in place in the Northern Territory.