Division Description Changes — Bills — Social Services Legislation Amendment (Cashless Debit Card Trial Expansion) Bill 2018; in Committee — 11th Sep 2018

Change	Division
senate vote 2018-09-11#1 Edited by mackay staff on 2018-10-26 14:37:43	Title Bills — Social Services Legislation Amendment (Cashless Debit Card Trial Expansion) Bill 2018; in Committee Social Services Legislation Amendment (Cashless Debit Card Trial Expansion) Bill 2018 - in Committee - More certainty Description ~~<p class='motion-notice motion-notice-truncated'>Long debate text truncated.</p>~~ The majority voted in favour of [government amendments](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/senate/?id=2018-09-11.4.2) (1) to (5) and (8) to (11), which means they succeeded. ### What do these amendments do? These amendments would move several matters that are currently in disallowable instruments - that is, legislative instruments that the parliament is able to vote against in a single vote so they stop being law - to standard legislation that can't so easily be undone. These matters include the location of the trial sites. According to Liberal MP [Mitch Fifield](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/senate/victoria/mitch_fifield), who introduced the amendments, "[this will give certainty](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/senate/?gid=2018-09-11.6.1) to trial participants and local communities". ### What does the bill do? The [bill was introduced to](http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:legislation/billhome/r6130): *** expand the cashless debit card arrangements to a further trial site, the Bundaberg and Hervey Bay area, to run until 30 June 2020; * specify the class of trial participants for the area and increase the total number of trial participants overall to 15 000;** * provide for an exception from the restrictive trade practices provisions of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 for merchants that implement product level blocking systems to identify that a cashless debit card is being used for payment and, if any restricted products are being purchased, decline the transaction; and *** limit the use of the restricted portion of a payment to prevent the portion being used to obtain cash-like products which could be used to obtain alcohol or gambling.**

~~<p class='motion-notice motion-notice-truncated'>Long debate text truncated.</p>~~
The majority voted in favour of [government amendments](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/senate/?id=2018-09-11.4.2) (1) to (5) and (8) to (11), which means they succeeded.
### What do these amendments do?
These amendments would move several matters that are currently in disallowable instruments - that is, legislative instruments that the parliament is able to vote against in a single vote so they stop being law - to standard legislation that can't so easily be undone. These matters include the location of the trial sites. According to Liberal MP [Mitch Fifield](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/senate/victoria/mitch_fifield), who introduced the amendments, *"[this will give certainty](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/senate/?gid=2018-09-11.6.1) to trial participants and local communities"*.
### What does the bill do?
The [bill was introduced to](http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:legislation/billhome/r6130):
* *expand the cashless debit card arrangements to a further trial site, the Bundaberg and Hervey Bay area, to run until 30 June 2020;*
* *specify the class of trial participants for the area and increase the total number of trial participants overall to 15 000;*
* *provide for an exception from the restrictive trade practices provisions of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 for merchants that implement product level blocking systems to identify that a cashless debit card is being used for payment and, if any restricted products are being purchased, decline the transaction; and*
* *limit the use of the restricted portion of a payment to prevent the portion being used to obtain cash-like products which could be used to obtain alcohol or gambling.*