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A $250 state government travel card designed to ease the cost of living for apprentices and students in regional New South Wales has so far cost taxpayers $900 per card.
Key points:
- A $250 student travel card could be scrapped in the September Budget
- The regional roads minister says each card has cost taxpayers $900
- The shadow regional roads minister says the government has obstructed the program
Regional roads minister Jenny Aitchison said the Regional Apprentice and University Student Card, which was a much-vaunted election promise by the Coalition, is up for review.
The pre-paid debit card comes loaded with $250 which can be spent on fuel, TrainLink services, public transport, taxis, and private coaches.
To date 6,118 people have signed up to the $98 million project.
Ms Aitchison said so far more than $5.5 million had been spent on the program, with around $1.5 million spent on allocation and another $4 million going towards implementation costs, bringing the average cost of each card to $903.08.
The cost of implementation includes banking account keeping fees, plastic, delivery and logistics, and the administrative costs involved in getting the cards working in service stations and public transport providers.
She said the money for the project came straight from the transport budget, meaning this was money that could otherwise be spent on road repairs.
"The state of our roads is a cost-of-living issue for many people in regional NSW in terms of lost productivity, damage to their vehicles and time off the road," Ms Aitchison said.
"Given the $7 billion budget black hole left by the former government and the massive backlog in road funding, it is appropriate that the NSW government fully review the operation of the program to ensure that it is an appropriate use of taxpayer funds."
Additionally, Ms Aitchison said there was no mechanism to stop people from using the card to buy "Fanta and chockies" at service stations.
The minister has not ruled out axing the program.
Shadow regional roads minister Sam Farraway maintained the program was a "successful" cost-of-living measure that was now in danger of being slashed.
Mr Farraway said the government was obstructing the program by not allowing university students to sign up to it.
He said Ms Aitchison was engaging in "tricky accounting", since the average cost-per-person would go down the more people signed up to the program.
"I think that the state Labor government and Minister Aitchison is being very cute with the numbers," Mr Farraway said.
They are building the narrative to cancel this card and this program.
"I think this is a cruel approach from the new Minns Labor government towards our regional universities, our apprentices, our trainees."
The travel card was part of a two-year trial initially rolled out in Dubbo.
The card is currently open for apprentices but is still not available for university students.
The program was supposed to be open to university students in April this year, with the trial planned to run until the end of 2024.