Discretionary Spending !

The " age of maturity " used to be twenty-one at which time a citizen could marry without their parents consent and gain the legal access to both alcohol and gambling -  and a vote to send their choice to  represent them in parliament.   Conscription during the Vietnam war changed all that. Simply attaining their eighteenth birthday meant a citizens name could be drawn and they could be issued with a rifle and sent to war.   That age of maturity was reduced to eighteen.

It seems that word - " Maturity " - is again under assault.    The National party is urging the Federal government to impose a cashless debit card on all citizens under thirty-five who receive any sort of government benefit.  Not only would this apply to the dole and parenting payments but also to the myriad benefits covered by a wide range of legislation.

The claimed purpose is to isolate government money from the evils of alcohol, tobacco, gambling and drug use.  The thinking seems to be that people under thirty-five are irresponsible and lack the wisdom to manage money, so the wise government will " manage " it for them  !   That ignores the reality than many thirty-five year olds are in a relationship that includes children, are paying off a house mortgage and aptly managing the benefits paid directly into their bank accounts.

It is not a wide stretch of the imagination to see this sort of thinking extended to recipients of the age pension. The elderly are often enthusiastic players of poker machines and the government could claim a responsibility to save them from this folly.  There are obvious health benefits by limiting the exposure to alcohol and tobacco, but that comes with the withdrawal of " choice " which we associate with discretionary spending.

The only way the government can exercise control over debit cards is to restrict their use to stores like the Coles/Woolworths duopoly.  If spending is allowed in a wide range of traders it is inevitable that subterfuge will quickly follow.  " Cash out " will be masked by adding an imaginary approved item to the bill or alcohol or tobacco will be covered by a different description.

The law of " supply and demand " is paramount in the market place.   Where there is " demand "  it is inevitable that " supply " will follow.   Where an obstacle is placed to stop supply that becomes a test of ingenuity to circumvent the restriction and we humans have an uncanny ability of creating ways and means of achieving our desires.

Like most well intentioned gambits the imposition of debit card restrictions is likely to fail.  That old maxim of " where this is a will, there is a way " applies.   Unfortunately, the government can spend a lot of money trying to put in place unworkable objectives.   Wisdom is in understanding the limitation that are possible  !