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Liberal backbencher Bridget Archer has warned colleagues her community in northern Tasmania does not want the cashless debit card.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Bridget Archer,who represents Bass in north-eastern Tasmania,told Parliament she was unhappy with the cashless debit card and would not back its further expansion. The program was punitive and antithetical to Liberal Party values of personal and individual responsibility,she said.

"Government imposing control in this way is not a fix to the myriad of issues driving disadvantage and at best it is a bandaid,"she said."Whenever you approach a human problem by inciting shame and guilt,you have already lost those that you are seeking to help."

The program quarantines 80 per cent of people's welfare payments into an account they can only spend at certain shops and can't use for alcohol,gambling or to get cash. It's in a trial phase in South Australia's Ceduna region,in the East Kimberley and the Goldfields in Western Australia,and Bundaberg and Hervey Bay in Queensland.

The government wants to make these sites permanent and move people on a different income management program in the Northern Territory and Cape York onto the cashless debit card.It has also eyed an eventual national rollout.

Mrs Archer said many in her community,including pensioners,had approached her with fears the cards would be imposed on them.

"This type of program will never be accepted in my community,and I want to make it unequivocally clear today that any proposed future expansion of this scheme will not have my support,"she said. However,she will back the legislation before Parliament out of concern an abrupt end to the program could cause further disadvantage to participants.

Gavin Pearce,from the neighbouring electorate of Braddon,said there was no proposal to expand the cashless card to Tasmania on the table at the moment and"as such,I will be voting for the bill that is before Parliament".

"I have said many times that I am Braddon's voice in Canberra,not Canberra's voice in Braddon. This is a position I will never waver from,"he toldThe Sydney Morning Herald andThe Age.

A senior government source said other MPs had also raised concerns about the program with the Prime Minister and in the party room.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says Coalition MPs are allowed space to"breathe"but must ultimately back the government's agenda. — Prime Minister Scott Morrison says Coalition MPs are allowed space to "breathe" but must ultimately back the government's agenda.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Mr Morrison spoke to Mrs Archer about her position on Thursday morning and said publicly all Coalition members could walk into his office and raise concerns at any time.

"We are a confident party ... about allowing our members to breathe and express their views,"he said.

"But equally,that comes with the responsibility of being a member of the team,which ensures that the government is able to continue to progress its agenda."

Opposition social services spokeswoman Linda Burney doesn't believe the government will take the program to Tasmania after Mrs Archer's intervention.

"Bridget really understands her electorate ... and she was clearly sending a message to her own people,don't come anywhere near Tasmania or Bass,"she said.

Labor disagrees with making the card mandatory for people on welfare and doesn't want the trial to become permanent.

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