The Cost of Cashless Welfare By Michael Ferguson

     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.”

     It is not about rational value, it is social control, and that comes at a price, that the insane system is happy to pay; one thousand dollars spent on one dollar of misery for us is a good deal in the terms of the power elites.
    Being on the dole I am not looking forward to the card, suffering enough humiliation from Centrelink now. Could there be a more unpleasant place than Centrelink? Even the staff seem oppressed. While waiting in the dole queue, a cockroach limped past me, groaning about oppression too. I wonder how long will it be before those environmentalists who advocate human cannibalism, turn their attention to unemployed like me, and start thinking about making burgers out of us! Hell, anything is possible now, so long as it is bad.
  https://www.climatedepot.com/2019/09/05/cannibalism-professor-says-eating-human-flesh-will-save-planet-from-climate-change/