Meet Daniel Taylor, who is currently on day 5 of a hunger strike over government control and privacy.
Daniel Taylor is an ordinary guy, doing an extraordinary thing. He lives with his partner and their one month old baby in Kununurra, Western Australia where the government has begun a 12 month trial for a cashless welfare card.
Daniel Taylor hunger strike
When the government talked about introducing the card, Daniel and his family thought nothing of it, they don’t drink or gamble so they didn’t see too much of an issue. When the cards were being issued, like everyone else Daniel went to receive his. He was given a card, a PIN and a booklet of terms and conditions. Nobody was asked to sign anything, no one signed the terms or for the cards, which Daniel found slightly questionable. So he went home and studied the information booklet and found the contents quite disturbing. The terms allow for collection of the cards data, all your purchases, all your information, and then they allow for this private information to be given to not only government departments but any private company at their discretion.
Daniel decided to cut up his card and not use it at all. After asking questions and looking further into it, Daniel got no real answers to his question “Who has access to all this data and why?” he made the decision to take a stand and go on hunger strike.
Today is day five of Mr Taylors hunger strike and he says “I’m feeling really weak and scatterbrained” he claims he is not going to eat until he gets the answers he is after.
In a phone interview with Daniel a few days ago he stated that he could already see a black market popping up in town, with people paying $150 cash for $200 worth of product purchased with a card. In Ceduna where they started trials on the basics card, people are claiming shops that allow it to be used there are upping the prices and taking advantage of people’s lack of choice. One lady even told us that if she spends over $100 at Coles and uses her card, they charge her an extra $32. People from the trials have complained about not being able to purchase from local famers, not having cash to send to send their children on school camps or excursions, having no money available for family outings, and these photos from the Kununurra show just go to show the effect the cards are having on family life.
Normally on opening night at any show, sideshow alley is packed with smiling children and their parents. But people just do not have the money available for these simple things anymore.
According to the Department of Human Services, the cashless welfare system is intended to keep gambling, drug and alcohol abuse under control by limiting people’s ability to purchase these services and to help ensure children are being fed. The small percentage of people who abuse their Centrelink benefits are finding ways around the cards intent, so they are not being affected. However, honest families who do the right thing are finding themselves being affected significantly in their everyday lives. All this card seems to be doing is widening the class gap, isolating children whose parents do not have the money from their peers. It seems to be punishing honest people, favouring big businesses over small locals and even making it harder for families to pay their rent and their bills. On top of Daniel’s privacy concerns he also has concerns for the mental wellbeing of his community, already noticing the morale in his town is declining and he fears suicide and crime rates are going to skyrocket.
Parents talking about the cards impact.
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