Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Warringah for his question. We just need to be a bit clear about the difference between voluntary and compulsory income management. In the case of the Kimberley area and Cannington, the suburb of Perth, the way that is going to work with the Western Australian government is that, if there are children in families in those two parts of that state where the child protection authorities think that it would be to the benefit of those children that their parents’ welfare payments are quarantined, it will not be voluntary. I just want to make that very clear. If they decide it is a good idea in the interests of the child, then it will be done. We are in the process of getting all of this ready to start in both the Kimberley and Cannington. The member for Warringah would be aware that this has not been done anywhere else in a metropolitan area before, so it is quite a complex task to get it working and get it working right.

He would also be aware that, to assist this process of income management in Western Australia and also in the Northern Territory and on Cape York, we are introducing a new debit card. This, too, is a whole new approach, one that we hope will make it easier for the people who are having their welfare payments income managed. The member would also be aware that there have been problems in the Northern Territory with some small businesses, in particular, who have been frustrated by the method of income management which we both agreed to in the past. We all know why that happened, so I am not being critical about it—it is just a fact. That is quite a complex task as well. Yesterday I spoke with Senator Ludwig, the Minister for Human Services, who has the task of getting that debit card up and running. He is very conscious of our desire to get that working.

It is going to require a different approach on Cape York; the four Cape York communities are going to have quite a different approach again. We are going to have three different income management methods being undertaken, and we will want to look at the effectiveness of them. We will obviously look at the effectiveness of the Northern Territory model in our major review, which we are about to commence. We want to have the opportunity to look at how it works in a mainstream community, which is why, with the Western Australian government’s agreement, we have chosen Cannington. This is a very new approach. We want to make sure we get it right, and we will evaluate its effectiveness. I think we are on the same page in wanting to make sure that these payments are used for the benefit of children. Fortunately, most parents do the right thing.

I think the member would also be aware that we intend to introduce legislation to enable people to volunteer to have their income managed, if that is what they think would help them. As I am sure you are aware, a Centrepay system exists. People can sign up to Centrepay, but we want to expand that opportunity for people who might want to have their income managed in a voluntary way, perhaps because they are being humbugged or not being left alone to manage their own money and because they think that this would help. Another reason might be that it helps them with budgeting. That is some legislation that will be introduced shortly.

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