At no time in the modern history of the British Westminster parliament have we seen a government so pitted against its parliament and now the highest Court in the land.

A very basic chronology is:

The Cameron Conservative government held a referendum in June 2016 with 51.89% of votes cast to leave the European Union. David Cameron then stepped down and was replaced by Theresa May as Prime Minister.

Ms May was unable to secure a successful vote in the British parliament on any deal agreed to by the European Union because a number of Conservative MPs voted with Labour against all the proposals she put forward.  She resigned in June 2019 and was replaced by Boris Johnson the next month.

Unable to get backing from the parliament to leave the European Union without any deal, Boris Johnson then sought to prorogue the parliament for around five weeks until 14 October, two and a half weeks prior to the final exit date (from the EU) of 31 October.

Johnson then formally advised the Queen, by telephone, to prorogue parliament between the 9th to 12th September and to hold a Queen’s Speech on 14th October.  On 28th August, Mr Jacob Rees-Mogg, Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Privy Council, Mr Mark Harper, chief whip, and Baroness Evans of Bowes Park, Leader of the House of Lords, attended a meeting of the Privy Council held by the Queen at Balmoral Castle resulting in an Order in Council proroguing the parliament between those dates.

AS THE LATEST U.N. climate summit begins in New York, a new, high-level global network of 500 prominent climate scientists and professionals has submitted a declaration that there is no “climate emergency”.

The group has sent a European Climate Declaration with a registered letter to António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations.

I must admit that there are things troubling me about the decision of the UK Supreme Court which held that the Queens proroguing of the British Parliament was void.

In the first instance, how can ‘advice’ in itself be considered to be unlawful?  Improper is one thing but unlawful is quite another particularly since it appears that the court was not aware of what that advice actually was or how it was worded.

Secondly, how is it possible for any court to then say that an Order of the Queen was null and void?

     The friendly people who give us all the oil have been busy this year:
  https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/saudi-arabia-executes-134-barbaric-20074793

“Barbaric crucifixions are on the rise in Saudi Arabia with 134 people executed already this year. A death penalty watchdog has revealed 'alarming' rise in state executions in the country - including crucifixions. A report claims more than 130 people have been executed this year already - with at least 24 more at "imminent" risk of execution, including three children. The skyrocketing number reportedly included at least six teens executed this year for "crimes" they were accused of carrying out as children. And the surge has come despite a pledge from Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince to reduce the use of the death penalty amid international disgust. The Death Penalty Project (DPP) watchdog's report on the executions says political figures, clerics and human rights defenders have been targeted, with individuals facing death for 'crimes' from expressing anti-government views on Facebook to bringing water to protesters. The report, presented to the 42nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council over the weekend, urged world leaders to boycott Saudi Arabia's turn to host the G20 Summit next year. The DDP says global pressure must be applied to convince Saudi Arabia to uphold international human rights standards, and place a moratorium on any further death sentences and executions. The DPP's report highlighted that detainees are being tortured and face "grossly unfair" trials culminating in death sentences. Among the executions carried by the brutal regime highlighted in the report was a mass execution of 37 men on April 23. Most were members of Saudi Arabia's Shia minority, arrested over their participation in protests during the Arab Spring period, and tortured and convicted in sham mass trials.”

     The horrible politely politically correct creature, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, has been called out for appearing dressed in black face, or brown face some years ago. This is ironic given his over the topness about everything multicultural. And, he has apologised, saying that he did not know what he was doing because of white privilege blah blah. Ok, we expected that. But something that no one online has yet commented on, and this is world exclusive here at the League of Rights news, is that Trudeau in the photograph seems to be engaged in inappropriate touching of one female, he has his arm around her, coming over her next getting dangerously close to her breasts, in fact touching the upper surface. That could be taken as rape by some radical feminists. He may not have got written permission for this intimate touching, and even if he did, radical feminists would say that that counts not. So politically correct people everywhere, go do what you do best!
  https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/shocking-yearbook-photo-shows-canadian-pm-justin-trudeau-wearing-brownface
  https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/3rd-image-surfaces-trudeau-wearing-blackface
  https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2019/09/19/trudeau-i-apologize-my-layers-of-privilege-made-not-understand-blackface-is-racist/

     With mass Chinese migration, without end, I wonder what life will be like down the track in majority China-Australia, or is that “Chinaustralasiaasiaasia”? How will things go for Christians? Looking at the churches today, I expect that they are hoping to get Chinese bums on seats to replace the dwindling Anglos. But, there may be a few surprises in store:
  https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2019/09/18/china-forces-churches-to-replace-ten-commandments-with-xi-jinping-quotes/

“The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has forced Christian churches across Henan province to replace the Ten Commandments with quotes from President Xi Jinping in its latest effort to “sinicize” religious practice in the officially atheist country. One pastor from a state-run Protestant church said that the CCP’s latest move is part of a systematic plan to erode Christian doctrine in the country, adding that the ultimate goal of the party is to “become God.” “The government’s first step is to prohibit religious couplets” said the pastor, who spoke under the condition of anonymity. “Then it dismantles crosses and starts to implement the ‘four requirements’ by ordering the national flag and ‘core socialist values’ to be placed in churches.”

     I don’t go to movies, and haven’t seen this one, but that little fact should not stop me posting a 50-star review of this exquisite movie. I have seen the clip, and know what happens, so I am good to go. And, I mean to say, something should be done to counter the Leftoid’s panning of this movie which they see as a Trumpesque, toxic masculinity fantasy, which in my view makes it great stuff, mate. Yeah, guns, knives, what is there not to like?
  https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/sep/19/rambo-last-blood-review
  https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-reviews/rambo-last-blood-movie-review-stallone-885610/

“As for the usual jingoistic chest-thumping, that’s saved for a climactic voiceover. But Last Blood‘s  basic takeaway — that heroes wear white hats and bad guys have brown skin — will be trumpeted throughout the whole bloody affair, from beginning to things-go-boom end. This is apparently what a Rambo movie circa 2019 now means. The man-vs.-cartel action you crave will be smothered in irresponsible fearmongering. The taste of toxicity will overwhelm whatever pulpy grindhouse pleasures you might have experienced. A franchise that started off with a sense of betrayal and righteous anti-authoritarian anger ends by parroting authoritarian talking points that betray what this country is about.”

     Clown world is in full swing, and I write this piece as the climate strike by angry school kids, and even some so-called enlightened capitalists, who have let their workers out of their day cages to protest, is underway. As if some school kids and university students are going to change the growth economy. All it will do is create more hardship for the very people the Left were supposed to support, workers and unemployed, if anything is done at all. Wait … stop press … in the right of the screen a news item just popped up:
  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7484625/School-children-admit-dont-care-climate-change-just-want-day-off.html?ico=pushly-notifcation-small

“A group of school children who attended the climate change protest have admitted they just wanted the day off of school. More than 50,000 people flooded Sydney's streets as they made their way to the Domain to take part in the protest, calling for governments and businesses to commit to a target of net zero carbon emissions by 2030. As the sea of people made their way to the event at midday on Friday, some school students on scooters could be seen heading in the opposite direction - appearing disinterested in the event. In the heart of the city police were spotted wrestling with a man holding a plastic bag of rubbish as protesting onlookers watched on in horror. One elderly woman was left sprawled on the ground in pain as officers arrested the man and dragged him away from the crowd punching and screaming. A group of 14-year-old boys straggling at the back of the crowd near the Domain told Daily Mail Australia they weren't interested in the protest. They said they were just happy to be out of the class room. One of the boys said they were going to go to Subway for lunch as they were hungry. When asked why they came out for the event one replied: 'I just wanted the day off school'. 'A lot of our friends said they were coming so we thought we should come too.'”

FUNDAMENTAL to the scientific method is the assumption that reality exists independently of our belief systems; that there is such a thing as evidence, and that it matters.

In an article in The Weekend Australian newspaper (page 18) written by Graham Lloyd entitled ‘No place in debate for contrarian hijackers’, Misha Ketchell who is the editor of the influential academic publication The Conversation is quoted claiming to care so much about the evidence that the opinions of ‘sceptics’ must be excluded.

But this begs the question: how do we define scepticism, and on what basis do we discount the opinion of a so-called sceptic?

If their opinions are at complete odds with the evidence: then wouldn’t it be more useful to show this? To use them, and their wrong claims, to explain the truth within the theory of human-caused global warming?

It is claimed that sceptics like myself have an undue and powerful political influence, repeatedly successfully thwarting attempts to implement necessary public policy change.

Indeed, if my arguments are so devoid of evidence, this should be easily proven. Except that the skills scores from my rainfall forecasts, when compared with reality, are far superior to anything forecast by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

There has always been a role in science for models and predictions — that can be objectively tested against reality/the evidence —- so the predictions of sceptics could be juxtaposed against predictions from the consensus.

     That is the argument, wasn’t is, that the assimilationists always gave, that everything would come out in the wash, or in the salad mix, or whatever cute metaphor was employed:
  https://www.amren.com/news/2019/09/report-migrants-children-are-more-likely-to-commit-crimes-than-parents/
  https://voiceofeurope.com/2019/09/report-migrants-children-are-more-likely-to-commit-crimes-than-parents/

“A recent study conducted by Statistic Norway has revealed that the children of immigrants commit more crimes than their parents – first-generation immigrants – do, suggesting that the notion of integration is merely a fantasy. Figures from the study showed that Norwegian-born men with Somali family background in the age group 15 to 35 were 4.6 times more likely to have committed a violent crime. Furthermore, men in the same age group with Iraqi backgrounds were 4 times more likely to have committed a violent crime. And again, the same pattern can be seen in Moroccan Norwegians (3.2), Turkish Norwegians (2.8), and Pakistani Norwegians (2.4). For members in Norway’s rightist Progress Party, these figures clearly indicate that proper integration is not taking place and that the Norwegian government should take more action and “make more demands” to address the problem.  Sigmund Book Mohn of Statistics Norway told the Swedish newspaper Aftenposten, “There are significantly higher rates among immigrants for certain types of offenses, such as mistreatment in close relationships. And significantly lower for other types, such as embezzlement.” Jon Helgheim, the Progress Party’s integration spokesman said that this essentially means that “integration doesn’t happen automatically over time”. “From 2015-2017, a total of 443 people were charged with “mistreatment in close relationships”, including domestic violence. Of those 443 individuals charged, 185 of them were immigrants. This clearly points to significant over-representation.

     Science, chained to technocracy, in turn the slave of corporate capitalism, leads to madhouse developments, such as growing mini human brains, then worrying about whether or not the brains are conscious (while late term abortions freely take place):
  https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/mini-human-brains-grown-in-laboratory-could-be-conscious/news-story/667fb687c9bcb8bb50a61a6b79d324cc

“Scientists have picked up human-like electrical activity in lab-grown brains for the first time, paving the way to model neurological conditions and answer fundamental questions on how our grey matter develops. It’s not clear whether the pea-sized brains are conscious: The team behind the breakthrough suspect they’re not because the activity resembles that of preterm babies, but they cannot say for certain, opening up a new ethical dimension to this area of research. So-called “cerebral organoids” derived from adult stem cells have been around for a decade or so but have never previously developed functional neural networks. “If you had asked me five years ago, ‘Would you think that a brain organoid would ever have a sophisticated network able to generate a brain oscillation?’ I would say no,” Alysson Muotri, a biologist at the University of California San Diego, told AFP.”

     It all began with the good old politically correct New York Times, publishing a hit piece 2.0 claiming that US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted a female as a student. The allegations were first raised against The Kav by others,  when he was being assessed for fitness to serve on the bench, but these allegations proved to be groundless. Anyway, the NYT article’s ink had hardly dried of its 1s and 0s on the net, when every Leftist and their dog Marx, were barking for The Kav to be impeached. Having a conservative judge worries the Left as much as a conservative president. Only problem was that this story too began to fall apart, as the alleged victim did not remember the assault, and does not want to talk to the media. Still, the NYT went ahead with the false news story, and we can quote President Trump on that description.
  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/14/sunday-review/brett-kavanaugh-deborah-ramirez-yale.html
  https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/09/16/nolte-new-york-times-forced-to-admit-kavanaugh-victim-doesnt-remember-assault/
  https://apnews.com/b166b4bf4698411eaf2a13fdf2d4bd9c
  https://thehill.com/homenews/media/461530-new-york-times-issues-correction-on-kavanaugh-story
  https://www.zerohedge.com/political/nyt-chases-down-kavanaugh-dick-waving-stories-1980s
  https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/09/15/democrats-call-justice-brett-kavanaugh-impeached/
  https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2019/09/15/book-alleged-victim-of-brett-kavanaugh-does-not-recall-incident/
  https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trump-defends-kavanaugh-against-radical-left-democrats-and-urges-him-to-start-suing
  https://www.zerohedge.com/political/nyt-forced-issue-major-correction-kavanaugh-hit-piece-trump-says-they-should-be-sued
  https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-seethes-nyt-demands-resignation-all-involved-kavanaugh-smear-story-and-russian

“Headlined “Brett Kavanaugh Fit In With the Privileged Kids. She Did Not,” the story was primarily about Deborah Ramirez, a Connecticut woman who alleged that Kavanaugh, as a freshman at Yale in 1983, had pulled down his pants and thrust his penis at her. Kavanaugh has denied those claims. Yet the authors said they’d uncovered a similar story involving Kavanaugh at another freshman-year party, where he allegedly exposed himself and friends pushed his penis into the hands of a female student. The story said former classmate Max Stier reported the incident to the FBI and senators as Kavanaugh’s nomination was being discussed, but the story said Stier would not discuss it with the authors. Kavanaugh would not comment on the story, a court spokeswoman said Monday. After the story was posted online but before it was in the print edition, the Times revised the story to add that the book reported that the woman supposedly involved in the incident declined to be interviewed, and that her friends say she doesn’t recall the incident. While an editor’s note pointed out the revision, it did not say why those facts had been left out in the first place. A Times spokeswoman said no one was available for an interview on Monday. The Times’ deputy editorial page editor, James Dao, posted answers to readers’ question on the newspaper’s website Monday evening but did not address this issue. The failure to initially report that the woman did not remember the alleged incident “is one of the worst cases of journalistic malpractice in recent memory,” John McCormack wrote in the conservative magazine National Review. The Washington Post, detailing its own decision on the story, called into question the Times’ decision to run with the accusation in the first place. The Post said that last year it had independently confirmed that lawmakers and authorities knew of the second accusation against Kavanaugh, but did not write about it because the woman involved would not comment and the alleged witnesses were not identified.

     Tongan officials have armed themselves with legal advice that suggests the NRL is powerless to prevent them selecting Israel Folau to make a shock return to rugby league in Test matches against Great Britain and Australia next month. Folau, sacked by Rugby Australia earlier this year after a social media post declaring gays were destined to go to hell unless they repented, is understood to have spoken to his legal team in Melbourne over his ability to turn out for the Tongan rugby league side. The NRL was scrambling on Monday night to block Folau’s comeback after being caught off guard by a press release from the Tongan National Rugby League suggesting Folau and his brother John were ready to turn out for the Tongan national team, the Mate Ma’a. In a statement released through social media, TNRL­ chairman George Koloamatangi said the Folau brothers were set to play against Great Britain on October 26 and Australia one week later at Eden Park in Auckland. The statement also said neither player was available for the World Cup 9s tournament to be played in Sydney on October 19 because the event was controlled by the NRL. Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter Beattie and NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg have already made it clear Folau is not welcome back. Remarkably, both men are on the Rugby League International Federation and were unaware of Folau’s planned return.

To The Age        It is sad to learn that shadows have been cast over the reputation of the late Catholic psychologist Ronald Conway ("'Little harm' in child abuse: church expert', 19/9). Whatever the truth of accusations made against him, he deserves the gratitude of Australians for three important and substantial books. In The Great Australian Stupor (1971) and Land of the Long Weekend (1978) he provided profound analyses of our national society from a centre-right perspective. These provide a sane and witty riposte to the mass of left-wing and Marxist commentaries produced then and later. Also, in his autobiography Conway's Way (1988) this gentle and industrious man offered important insights into how religion in the Western world can be revitalised. "The only hope for the Christian vision lies in a revival of a true spirituality," he commented in 'A Small Testament', the last chapter. He was refreshingly free from out-of-date theological prejudices. As one who knew him personally for 44 years, I recall with gratitude his wry, humorous but deeply sensible character.
  Nigel Jackson,

     Russia, who is bravely standing against the maelstrom of modernist madness, has been criticised for being an “abnormal country.” Yet, in an age of near total insanity, this surely a moral victory, being an inversion of foul is fair and fair is foul:
  https://www.rt.com/news/468423-pentagon-russia-normal-country/

“It’s better not to be a “more normal country” if that means being as prone to invasions and coups as the United States, top Russian ministers have said, firing back at bizarre remarks by a new Pentagon chief. It would be “great” if the West “could get Russia to behave like a more normal country,” Mark Esper, the newly appointed defense secretary, was reported to have claimed while visiting Paris this week. That remark did not go down well with Moscow, however. “If he said so, he called upon us to act as a normal country [as such] and not like the United States,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a press briefing in the Russian capital, where he and Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu had a face-to-face meeting with French counterparts. Otherwise, we should have been acting like the US, bombing Iraq and Libya in blatant violation of international law… We should have supported coups, violent and anti-constitutional, like the US and its closest allies did in February 2014 [in Ukraine]. What's more, if Russia followed Washington’s instructions, then “we would have spent millions on intervening in the affairs of other countries as Congress has done by authorizing $20 million for supporting democracy in Russia,” Lavrov stated. On his part, Shoigu also said that normalcy has a different meaning for Moscow then. We will probably remain [an] abnormal [country].”

Our grandfathers built a low-cost reliable decentralised electricity supply for all states of Australia based mainly on black and brown coal-fields – Blair Athol, Callide, Ipswich, Sydney/Newcastle, Yallourn, Leigh Creek and Collie.

Then our fathers built the mighty Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric scheme which provided water to irrigate the inland while generating electricity to help pay for it.

Then in the years up to 1980, huge new coal-fired power plants were constructed in each State. And we discovered oil and gas in Roma, Bass Strait, Barrow Island, Timor Sea, and in coal and shale in many places.

Coal and hydro gave Australia reliable low-cost electricity that was the envy of the world and supported primary, secondary and tertiary industries.

We irrigated crops, electrified cities, powered railways and mines, refined metals and petroleum and processed milk, wool, cotton, grains, meat and fruit. Factories made Victa mowers, Southern Cross windmills and diesel engines. Holden/Ford/Toyota and Mitsubishi all produced cars in Australia and we made 9 brands of tractors. The Ipswich railway workshops produced locomotives and rolling stock, and Lithgow produced small arms. We canned Golden Circle pineapples, Ardmona stone fruits, Rosella jams and made Bully Beef, tomato sauce and Vegemite.

Australia once valued decentralisation and it served us well in electricity supply. Electricity generation and distribution was left in the hands of state-based engineers and entrepreneurs, and competitive state governments strove to ensure their states had the most reliable low-cost electricity. In those days a state “Co-ordinator General” was charged with predicting demand for electricity and then ensuring that power stations were built in the right place at the right time. The distant Federal Government largely confined itself to defence, foreign affairs, immigration and quarantine (with increasing meddling into wage setting, welfare and devaluation of the currency).

     I recently criticised an article by leading neo-masculinity/barbarianism writer, Jack Donovan, where he argued that all one can really advocate in US post politics now is support for the US Bill of Rights. Well, so much the worse for Australia, England and other countries without one, and even having one does not mean much, as recent article expressed:
  https://www.zerohedge.com/political/bill-rights-turns-230-and-what-do-we-have-show-it-nothing-good

“It’s been 230 years since James Madison drafted the Bill of Rights - the first ten amendments to the Constitution - as a means of protecting the people against government tyranny, and what do we have to show for it?
Nothing good. In America today, the government does whatever it wants, freedom be damned. We can pretend that the Constitution, which was written to hold the government accountable, is still our governing document, but the reality of life in the American police state tells a different story. “We the people” have been terrorized, traumatized, and tricked into a semi-permanent state of compliance by a government that cares nothing for our lives or our liberties. The bogeyman’s names and faces have changed over time (terrorism, the war on drugs, illegal immigration, etc.), but the end result remains the same: in the so-called named of national security, the Constitution has been steadily chipped away at, undermined, eroded, whittled down, and generally discarded to such an extent that what we are left with today is but a shadow of the robust document adopted more than two centuries ago. Most of the damage has been inflicted upon the Bill of Rights. A recitation of the Bill of Rights—set against a backdrop of government surveillance, militarized police, SWAT team raids, asset forfeiture, eminent domain, overcriminalization, armed surveillance drones, whole body scanners, stop and frisk searches (all sanctioned by Congress, the White House, the courts and the like)—would understandably sound more like a eulogy to freedoms lost than an affirmation of rights we truly possess.

     Soon the government will be able to recognise your beautiful face everywhere, maybe in places where you have not even gone, such as crime scenes:
  https://www.9news.com.au/national/a-current-affair-facial-recognition-technology-australia-surveillance/ee91eacf-1c6c-4a1d-bba9-0d400984217c

“Privacy advocates have issued a warning about a new proposed government facial recognition database, saying: "This changes the nature of the world we're in." Dubbed "The Capability", the system would match images of people captured on CCTV with their driver's license and passport photos. The database could be shared with government agencies, police and anti-corruption agencies and, in some cases, private organisations. "They're going to use this database with face recognition to be able to pick people out so you'll be able to take CCTV footage and be able to automatically identify people," Professor Toby Walsh, from the University of New South Wales, told A Current Affair. "The government hasn't shown itself to be too competent at looking after our data and if bad actors are out there they could use that data for whatever purposes." Professor Walsh is an expert in artificial intelligence, and told A Current Affair the technology is similar to surveillance software used in China. The cameras are the back-bone of the country's "social credit system" which awards or deducts points depending on a citizen's behaviour. If a person's rating gets too low, they could be prevented from doing everyday activities like catching the train or flying.”

     Softbois, or spelling it out “Soft Boys,” (closely related to “Soy Boys”) is what many boys, I don’t call them men, are today, the product of a feminist society and testosterone destroying chemicals, and emasculated lifestyles.  Here the Left can explain it, since they helped create it:
  https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/sep/05/softboi-what-is-it-instagram-q-and-a

“There’s a softboi spectrum. At one end, it’s just anyone who has any unique or alternative interests that make them feel superior to other people. At the other end is quite hardcore emotionally manipulative men who use these interests to really mess about with women or men. But there’s so many people in between on the spectrum so there’s no one real definition. What are three terms you’d use to describe a softboi? Alternative. Superiority complex. Emotionally exploitative. You can assign those qualities to a lot of people, but you’re saying it’s the alternativeness that gives the bois their soft edge? Yeah, exactly. Softbois have alternative interests and come across like they’re being very open about their emotions, which is a really good thing for men to do. But it then twists into “and you should therefore sleep with me because of this”. Another common thing with softbois is that they turn quite emotionally messed up when they get rejected. For example: one guy [featured on the account] messaged a girl on Tinder saying “don’t be sad life is wonderful”, and when she didn’t reply he wrote “lol you must be one of those emotionally distraught women who hasn’t figured out their purpose yet”.

     No doubt about it, totalitarianism does not come cheap nowadays; the cashless welfare trial of the card on just 2,000 lab subjects, sorry, people, has already cost the haemorrhaging taxpayer, $ 18.9 million. Well, at first, I thought this was $ 189 million, and that would not have surprised me either; nothing surprises me anymore. Still, the system wants it because it is cashless, and can be used to smash the unemployed deplorables, whom the elite like to metaphorically hunt like those predator creatures in the movies of the same name:
  https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/may/02/cashless-welfare-card-trialled-for-fewer-than-2000-people-at-cost-of-up-to-189m
  https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-02/cashless-welfare-trial-costing-taxpayers-$10k-per-participant/8488268

“The federal government is spending up to $18.9m to trial the cashless welfare card for fewer than 2,000 people. Data published by the Department of Social Services under freedom of information reveals that is the “estimated maximum” cost of the trial. The trial involves about 1,850 people, according to the most recent evaluation, published in February, although it had about 2,000 participants in October. The program has cost the department $2.6m in administration costs and the private firm providing the cards, Indue, is on a $7.9m contract. The government has paid $1m and $1.6m for wrap-around support services in Ceduna (South Australia) and the East Kimberley respectively. The Australian Council of Social Service said the government was continuing the program at an extraordinary cost, despite the lack of reliable evidence of its effectiveness. Its chief executive, Cassandra Goldie, said the money should be diverted to investing in proven support services. “The cashless debit card costs around $10,000 a year per participant to administer, when the person themselves is receiving a meagre $14,000 a year in Newstart payments. How on earth is this good value?” Goldie said.”