Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last week in Ceduna, in the west of my electorate, we came to a very special place in time where the white community and the Indigenous community sat down together and signed a memorandum of understanding for the introduction of what Twiggy Forrest called the 'healthy welfare card' but what we are calling at the moment the 'cashless debit card'. It is a very special time, because there in Ceduna we have seen the leaders of every Indigenous organisation and the leaders of the local council take a stand together, to clasp hands across the table, and say collectively, 'We are going to take on the threats to our society.' With the cashless debit card, 80 per cent of people's income will go into this card. They will be able to spend it on anything they like, except alcohol and gambling services. They will not be able to get cash, so of course they will not be able to buy drugs.

I want to particularly identify Michael Haynes and Peter Miller from the Ceduna Aboriginal Corporation, Corey McLennan and Kevina Ware from Koonibba, Robert Larking and Bronwyn Scott from Scotdesco, Greg Franks and Maureen Smart from Yalata, Sharon Yendall and Roger Williams from Oak Valley, and the Mayor, Allan Suter, for their great support on this project. I am looking forward to the outcome. And go the Diamonds!

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