Labor boss responds to election ‘big lie’

Labor’s campaign chief has denied accusations the party deliberately misled senior Australians by claiming Scott Morrison would force pensioners onto cashless debit cards.

During its term in opposition and throughout the recent election campaign, multiple Labor MPs, including Anthony Albanese and Richard Marles, claimed a re-elected Coalition would force seniors onto the program.

The cashless debit card program, which the Albanese government has vowed to abolish, quarantined up to 80 per cent of welfare payments into a restricted bank account.

It was designed to prevent cash withdrawals or spending on certain items such as alcohol and gambling.

Former prime minister Scott Morrison at the time labelled the speculation a “disgraceful lie” designed to frighten pensioners.

Asked if on reflection he considered the campaign misleading, Labor’s national secretary, Paul Erickson, rejected the question.

“Absolutely it was not a lie,” he told the National Press Club on Wednesday.

“We campaigned against the Cashless Debit Card and pointed to the Liberal Government and Anne Ruston, the former minister’s own words, and we have now taken steps as we committed to abolish the cashless debit card.”

Despite ruling out extending the cashless debit card to aged pensioners on several occasions, Social Services Minister Anne Ruston has been plagued by a comment she made in March 2020.

Addressing a parliamentary inquiry, Senator Ruston said she was “open to a conversation with the nation about further use of the cashless debit card as a welfare measure”.

Under existing legislation, aged pensioners can go onto the card either voluntarily or under state and territory vulnerability provisions.

An expansion of the card would have required a vote on the floor of parliament.

Earlier this month, new minister Amanda Rishworth announced Labor had taken steps to scrap the card.

“The former Coalition government spent more than $170 million on the privatised Cashless Debit Card – money that could have been spent on services locals need,” Ms Rishworth said.

It came after a scathing report from the Auditor-General revealed the previous government had not “demonstrated that the cashless debit card program is meeting its intended objectives”.