Honest Government Ad | Cashless Welfare Card (Patreon)

Dear PatronsHere is the latest Honest Government Ad that we’ve produced together!The “Cashless Welfare Card” was high on the list of requested topics. I’ve lost count of how many people - both Patrons and general audience - have written to us asking to cover this topic. And for good reason. The stigmatisation of people on low income who exercise their right to income support (and it’s essential to remember that it’s a right, not a form of charity) - is incredibly damaging. Especially when children are involved. And it must stop before it becomes national policy.And I’m not talking about the tired old stereotype of the “dole bludger” and “hippie stoner”.The real face of Australia’s unemployed is a mature-age worker. In fact the largest single group living on Newstart are people aged over 45, many of them women, and single parents. These workers are likely to spend much longer on Newstart because they struggle to find full-time work again. Some never do.When researching this video I had the chance to speak to some of the people who are on the card in the trial areas and to read some of their stories. Many of these stories are truly heartbreaking. I read about a woman who left a store in tears when her child asked her, “Mum what’s a druggie?” (her son had overheard the store managers referring to her mother’s Indue card as the “druggie card”).Special thanks to The SAY NO SEVEN crew (https://www.facebook.com/SAYNOSEVEN) for their tireless work: their page was a mine of information and resources about the Card and I encourage you all to follow it to keep up to date with the ongoing roll-out of the Cashless Debit Card.A very special thanks to SNS2* in particular, for all the help she gave me (* all the people behind the Say NO Seven page have to remain anonymous to avoid being targeted for speaking up about this shitfuckery - can you believe it!?)If we’re lucky we might be able to interview some of the brave women from The SAY NO SEVEN for the podcast companion to this Honest Government Ad. So stay tuned for the podcast companion to this HGA.In other news…Luca is about to have a brother or sister! Yup, Lucy is over 38 weeks pregnant carrying our new (and final) family member – and they’re due to arrive, well… any day now!!We haven’t shared this news publicly with many people, but I feel like our Patrons are part of our extended family – so it feels right :-)I’m hoping to get the podcast out before then. And I plan to keep our video production going as normal. (When Luca was born, we didn’t skip a beat. If anything, he inspired us to raise the stakes and work harder at this project!)But if the podcast does come out a little later than expected, you’ll know why: we’re taking a little time out to welcome a new little human into this world.As always, thank you for making it possible for us to dedicate ourselves to this work full time. I encourage you to read the comments in the YouTube and Facebook video: so many people are thanking us for helping to raise awareness about this topic – as there is so much misunderstanding, misinformation and stigma around it. I would like you all to share in us in accepting those thanks, because without you – our Patrons – we could not have made this video. And all the ones to come.With gratitude,Giordano & family

VIDEO LINKS:Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RZSTx9khWwTwitter video: https://twitter.com/thejuicemedia/status/1176290102902870017Facebook video: https://www.facebook.com/thejuicemedia/videos/410325333013060/