Cashless welfare transfers and Australia’s First Nations: redemptive or repressive violence?

ABSTRACT The Australian Federal Government claims that the Cashless Debit Card (CDC) is a necessary ‘support’ that generates positive outcomes. Despite contrary evidence revealed through independent research and problems with the scheme also apparent in government-commissioned research, the dominant political narrative accompanying the CDC remains intractable. The CDC has been characterised by elites as helpful ‘practical love’ for those in need of government income support. However, many of those with lived experience of the CDC report that the scheme imposes difficulties with basic bill payment, undermines sound financial management, and stigmatises cardholders. The majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations who have gone on the public record strongly condemn the scheme in its compulsory iteration, as do prominent First Nations Senators. Taking these issues into consideration, this article examines whether the CDC is best characterised as ‘redemptive’ or ‘repressive violence’. In doing so, it reflects on colonial conceptions of ‘care’, which are deeply paternalistic, and contrasts this with an approach that promotes self-determination and autonomy. This analysis is situated in the context of neoliberal marketisation of welfare state practices, where heavy handed regulatory frameworks have proven lucrative for industry interests.