John Cobb (Calare, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

In common with people I have heard speak tonight, I rise to speak in favour of what to me is a common sense bill, the Social Service Legislation Amendment (Debit Card Trial) Bill. It is a trial, and for a very good reason. I listened to the member for Lingiari, and if the things he talked about need looking at then I hope that this trial will deal with them. But in saying that I support this bill, I am not singling out any particular section of people. I think that this is a good trial to be run by the Australian social services in general. I think it is a sensible way to address social harm that is hitting our communities as people, without doubt, struggle with alcohol and drug addictions, gambling problems and domestic violence.

Some of the problem is that the welfare system has enabled people to, in a sense, take advantage of the system to stay on dangerous substances. I think the new debit card can act as a safeguard, a way to help locals struggling to make the right choices about how to use their money. Obviously it can sound a little high and mighty, it can sound a little as though we are sitting and looking down on people, telling them how to live their lives, but we are responsible for the nation's character, in a sense. I think we are certainly responsible for the spending of the nation's tax dollars, and I think we owe it to the people concerned, we owe it to ourselves, we owe it to the nation, to do something in a very practical sense to deal with the problem.

I think it will ensure safer communities and it will ensure that people have an opportunity to get out of a cycle, whether they want to or not. It is backed by reviews and it is backed by research that does recommend that a cashless debit card restricting the sale of alcohol, drugs and gambling is a good thing.

The debit card trial is to run for 12 months in the community of Ceduna in the south-west of South Australia. I have been there and I do not see it as a community very different to a lot of communities around Australia. I have no doubt that—in fact, I know—we have the same issues in my electorate of Calare. Domestic violence is not peculiar to any part of Australia and it is caused, in the large part, by drug and alcohol abuse—it is no excuse for it, but it is a reason for it. Not for one second would I say that there is any excuse for those things. I say to the people of Ceduna: we are with you and we hope that by trialling it in your community not only you but the whole nation can be better off.

The recipients will receive a mainstream debit card which will be connected to Visa, MasterCard or the EFTPOS system. It excludes alcohol and gambling products. It is obviously not a cash card. Eighty per cent of a person's social security payment will be placed onto their card and the remainder will go into their bank account.

I think this is a trial for a common sense measure that will help individuals to use their money for the good of their family and for the good of society generally. I have always said that if a society has a problem like this the whole nation suffers for it. We all do. The effects are huge. The decision—or the non-decision—of an individual to continue their addiction impacts their family, their community and, certainly, the nation as a whole. We are all the poorer for it. Yes, kids go hungry if their parent or parents have spent their payment on alcohol or whatever. They will wait until the next fortnightly payment to buy those essentials, as their addictions make it difficult—and, in some cases, impossible—to put their child's needs first. Anything—and I mean anything—which improves the lot of children, whether it is in remote communities, or in Sydney or in my electorate of Calare, I think must be something that we have to take a common sense, practical approach to.

As everybody has said, this is a trial. If there are problems—and I am sure that some will come out—whether they are ones the member for Lingiari referred to or ones which others referred to, then let's look at how we can solve them. I think that not to try this is to deny that the problem exists, to deny the level of domestic violence and to deny the way some children in Australia have to survive—and I used to be part of a portfolio that looked at this, and it is not something that we would be proud of. I think that it is anything which can make a difference to those things—I am not going to go on any longer, Deputy Speaker. I just want to say that I do not believe that as a parliament, as a government and as a people we can ignore it and not do everything we can to deal with those issues. I am totally behind the fact that we are going to trial something which must be for the good of all Australians.

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