The federal government is "actively" considering mining magnate Andrew Forrest's recommendations that welfare recipients be issued with a debit card to ensure they do not spend their benefits on alcohol and gambling and that family payments be made contingent on children's school attendance.
Parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister Alan Tudge has already confirmed the government is in talks with banks about the debit card proposal. On Monday, he told Fairfax Media that the government was trying to work out what was technically feasible and when technology might be introduced.
But he stressed that the government had not taken a decision on the issue and strongly hinted that the Coalition was not considering using the so-called "healthy welfare card" for all welfare recipients.
"We're predominantly looking at how it might apply to vulnerable and at-risk people," he said.
Mr Tudge, who led the Forrest review process for the government, explained "vulnerable" could include people who were in danger of becoming homeless, or those with substance abuse issues.
It would involve both indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.
Mr Forrest made the healthy welfare card proposal in his August review of indigenous employment and training. This would direct "spending to purchases that sustain and support a healthy lifestyle for the recipients and any children … and to savings for larger expenses". It would require the government to work with banks to issue the card using debit card technology.
In the 256-page report, Mr Forrest also recommended that family payments, which are provided to support the cost of raising children, should be conditional on good school attendance.
"Untied welfare means recalcitrant parents are not held accountable for failing to send their children to school," he said in the report.
Mr Tudge explained that the government was also examining how this recommendation could work in practice. He said that children needed to go to school at least 80 per cent of the time in order to learn.
He said one issue was that school attendance data, which is kept by the states, would need to be linked up with the federal family payment system.
"This is not insurmountable, but is it not straightforward," he said.
Mr Tudge said the government was also examining who the measure might apply to and what it might cost.
The government has been consulting the community about the Forrest report and is due to respond to it first in a cabinet submission later this year. This will also take in the welfare review by Patrick McClure, which is scheduled to go to Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews next month.
