The cashless welfare trial worked by quarantining 80 per cent of a person’s Centrelink payments, which could only be spent on essential items. 

The cards are being trialled in Ceduna in South Australia and East Kimberley in Western Australia in a bid to reduce gambling, crime and alcohol abuse. 

However, a report by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) has found the approach to monitoring and evaluation was inadequate. The report found, as a consequence, it is difficult to conclude whether there had been a reduction in social harm.

However, Mrs Sudmalis said regardless of the report, the welfare cards were an important catalyst in social change and couldn’t be measured in mathematical form. 

“It should be noted that extensive consultation takes place after any community requests the introduction of the welfare card,” she said. 

“Having been present when some of the female community elders in Canberra shared their stories of success in changed behaviours - I am now convinced that this effort to make a difference is a step in the right direction.

“Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder arises when there is over consumption of alcohol, especially around conception time. These women elders were so pleased that alcohol was reduced in community; they said it was ‘saving their children’.

“How does an audit measure that?”

In 2017, Mrs Sudmalis said she was open to implementing the welfare cards in the Gilmore electorate if that was what the community wanted.

After the release of the audit, Mrs Sudmalis said opinions about the effectiveness of the cards should be left to the communities trialing the program. 

“If a community believes it is good for them, then who are we to judge that the statistics don’t match,” she said. 

“More time, more patience and more listening to the affected community elders is what is required here.”

ANAO also found differences in what Social Services Minister Dan Teham was told, compared to actual data. 

The report stated that Mr Tehan was advised there was a decrease in the total number of St John Ambulance call-outs in September 2016 compared to September 2015.

Accounting for seasonality in the data, ANAO analysed data over a longer period, and found there was a 17 per cent increase in call-outs from April to October 2016 when compared to the previous year.

Mr Teham was also told of an increase in school attendance, but ANAO data showed attendance was relatively stable for non-indigenous students but had declined by 1.7 per cent for indigenous students, after the implementation of the trial compared to the same period in 2015.

ANAO analysis also showed  there was a consistent decline in alcohol related pick-ups over time, not just over the trial period.