Welfare recipients in Kalgoorlie will be forced to stay on the controversial cashless welfare card after Labor failed to have the scheme's third and largest trial scrapped.
The federal opposition tried to sink the debit card's rollout to Western Australia's Goldfields region on Monday night, but the move was rejected by the Senate.
Under the trial, 80 per cent of people's welfare money is quarantined so it can't be spent on gambling and alcohol.
Labor frontbencher Doug Cameron said there had been insufficient consultation with the community before the trials.
After ongoing trials in Ceduna in South Australia and WA's East Kimberley region, the program was extended to the Goldfields in March.
An auditor-general report released last month found the Department of Social Services' monitoring and evaluation of the trial was inadequate.
"There should be no extension while the problems continue," Senator Cameron told parliament.
But Labor didn't support the Greens' bid to torpedo the debit card in all three trial sites, arguing some people had told them the program was working.
Instead, Labor wants to give the trials in Ceduna and East Kimberley another 12 months with better analysis of whether the program works in reducing gambling and substance abuse.
Greens senator Rachel Siewert said it was ridiculous to believe complex social issues like unemployment and intergenerational trauma could be solved by the card.
"It's lazy and punitive policy," Senator Siewert said.
Labor and the Greens share concerns the government is heavily relying on anecdotal evidence to prove the trial is working.
Senator Siewert said people had been humiliated by using the card.
"Drop the ideological support for this failed social experiment that causes harm to our fellow Australians and particularly First Nations people," she said.
Liberal senator Slade Brockman defended the trials, saying it was vital to allow the current sites to run until their conclusion.
"People in these communities understand this is no silver bullet," Senator Brockman said.
"It's a trial to see whether this approach can have a positive impact on these communities, not in five minutes but over time."
The government will push for the card to be extended to Bundaberg and Hervey Bay in Queensland through legislation.
