Australia to trial new welfare drug test
Print Edition
AUSTRALIA will drug test the newly-unemployed as part of a crackdown on people who blow their benefits on getting high, with data from sewage used to identify which hot spots to target, officials said yesterday.
Up to 5,000 jobless will have to take the test to qualify for allowances as part of a trial to address welfare-fueled substance abuse.
Benefit recipients who do not pass will have their handouts put on a cashless debit card which they can only use to buy essentials such as food.
Those who fail more than once will be referred to medical professionals for assessment and treatment.
“We’re going to trial this with just 5,000 people and if it doesn’t work we’ll stop it and if it does work and it’s helping people well we’ll keep doing it, we’d be silly not to,” said Treasurer Scott Morrison.
Australia’s jobless rate currently sits at 5.9 percent, with 753,000 people out of work.
The government hopes the plan, along with docking welfare payments for people who skip job interviews or fail to attend meetings, could save taxpayers over A$600 million (US$440 million) in the next four years.
Sewage data would be used to pinpoint three sites for the trial based on the National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program which has identified “astonishingly high” rates of methamphetamine use across Australia.
Social Services Minister Christian Porter said it was about helping people have the best chance of getting a job.
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