Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Yes. What you are saying is precisely the opposite of what I said. I said you can check your balances for free via an app online or an SMS which will come to you, updating you on your balances.

You cannot withdraw cash from the debit card. The cash component, the 20 per cent, would go into your bank account or whatever the mechanism is that you specify. There are no fees associated with the debit card account.

In terms of a merchant, what someone pays is what the merchant rings up, which may include a charge that they have for people using cards. As I said earlier, there is work going on, particularly in the trial regions, to try to ensure that merchants have that as low as possible.