Scott Morrison has demanded Anthony Albanese “come clean” on the “disgusting” claim the Coalition would force pensioners onto cashless debit cards.
Speaking to reporters in Perth, the Prime Minister categorically ruled out expanding the card to pensioners as Labor has insisted.
“It's just simply not true,” Mr Morrison said on Tuesday.
“If he wants to talk about trust and integrity, that he should show some today, and the Labor Party should stop frightening pensioners.
“It is and out and out disgusting lie.”
Labor politicians including Mr Albanese and deputy Richard Marles have claimed the Morrison government would expand the scheme to aged pensioners if re-elected.
The government’s cashless debit card program quarantines up to 80 per cent of welfare payments into a restricted bank account.
It is designed to prevent cash withdrawals or spending on certain items such as alcohol and gambling.
It is being trialled for welfare recipients in six areas – including Cape York and the Northern Territory.
The trial was extended until December 2022 after the government was unable to win support to make the program permanent.
At the heart of Labor’s campaign is a statement made by Social Services Minister Anne Ruston in 2020, where she said she would be “open” to a conversation about the further use of the program.
Under existing legislation, aged pensioners can go onto the card is either voluntarily or under state and territory vulnerability provisions.
An expansion of the card would require a vote on the floor of parliament.
But that hasn’t stopped Mr Albanese and opposition treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers from doubling down on the issue.
“We can be very clear about this. Labor will abolish the cashless debit card, the Government will keep it and they are talking about expanding it,” Dr Chalmers told reporters in Brisbane.
“The Prime Minister during the course of this term, in September 2019, said the cashless debit card commended itself to wider application.”
