The Labor Party has been caught out lying and misleading local aged pensioners over the cashless debit card.
A Labor scare campaign targeted at aged pensioners, including residents of Bribie Island, is claiming the Federal Liberal Nationals Government will force aged pensioners onto the cashless debit card.
Federal Minister for Social Services, Anne Ruston, has repeatedly stated that the government will never force aged pensioners onto the card.
“The Opposition are running an absolutely shameful scare campaign aimed at aged pensioners,” Senator Ruston said in Parliament. “They are lying to them. Let me be absolutely crystal clear, the government has no plan to force aged pensioners onto the cashless debit card and we will never have such a plan.”
For some time, the Labor Party has been dropping material into people’s mailboxes across the Island, perpetuating this lie, on behalf of its candidate at the upcoming Federal election.
On February 24, State Member for Keppel, Brittany Lauga, was forced to apologise in the Queensland Legislative Assembly for misleading the House on claims she made on November 30, 2021.
She said, “I made statements that the current Federal Coalition Government was planning to force every aged pensioner in Australia onto the Cashless Debit Card. “I wish to withdraw this statement and apologise if in making the statement I unintentionally mislead the House.”
Federal Minister for Resources and Water, Keith Pitt, said the Member for Keppel’s stunning admission that she misled the State Parliament on the Cashless Debit Card shows that Labor can’t be trusted.
“Both State and Federal Labor MPs have continued to spread misinformation about the Cashless Debit Card, unnecessarily worrying our senior citizens, and now they’ve been caught out. The Coalition Government has not, does not and will not have a policy of placing aged pensioners on the Cashless Debit Card. All Labor MPs who have knowingly misled the Parliament about the Cashless Debit Card should withdraw their statements.”
This newspaper contacted Federal Member for Longman Terry Young for comment, and he reiterated that the Federal Government had no plan to force pensioners onto the Cashless Debit Card.
“The Cashless Debit Card is being trialled in certain areas to help unemployed people stabilise their lives and help them to get off welfare and into a job,” Mr Young said. “It therefore makes no sense to put aged pensioners onto the card and it’s disappointing that they are being deliberately targeted with these lies”.
“These are among our most vulnerable residents and deliberately lying to them and misleading them is, frankly, completely shameful.”
Comments