The International Journal of Community and Social Development • Vol 5 • No 2
Paternalistic Welfare or Co-designed Partnerships with Local Communities? Analysis of Community Group Submissions to Six Australian Parliamentary Inquiries into the Cashless Debit Card from 2015–2020
February 2023 • Philip Mendes, Steven Roche, Tegan Edwards
Prior to the election of the Labor Government in May 2022, consecutive Australian Liberal–National Coalition Governments argued that local community leaders and organisations endorsed the introduction of the restrictive cashless debit card (CDC) in multiple trial sites. As a result, the CDC policy was presented as a meritorious example of a co-designed policy model based on collaboration with local communities. This article explores this assertion by examining the views presented by local community groups via writ…