Mining billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest has revealed himself as being ‘de facto’ in charge of the federal government’s cashless debit card policy, with his foundation telling a senate committee that a national working group to support a countrywide rollout was established at its request.
The existence of the CDC Technology Working Group has been known since March — it includes major banks ANZ, CBA, NAB and Westpac as well as Australia Post, Coles, Metcash and Woolworths — but in a submission to a a parliamentary review, Forrest’s Minderoo Foundation offshoot Generation One confirms it originated with them.