Keith Pitt (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Firstly, can I just say that I have great disappointment in the loss of the Labor Party's bipartisan support on this very important program, one which is clearly difficult to implement. It is a tough policy. I've admitted that publicly many times. I've also said on many occasions that it is not a magic bullet but it is a tool that we have in the toolbox. It is a policy which we can implement, and it's one which will make a great difference.

Can I say to the member for Barton: you missed one of the critical recommendations of the Senate inquiry, and that is the overall recommendation that the legislation should be supported. That was the outcome from the Senate inquiry.

It's not a blanket approach, and I'm going to talk specifically about my electorate, the electorate of Hinkler. It is not just the city of Bundaberg. It is the city of Bundaberg and Hervey Bay; it is the outlying areas such as Bargara, Childers, Woodgate and Booyal; and it is all of those smaller communities such as Toogoom and Burrum Heads. It does cover a very broad range. The consultation has been extensive, and I will talk about that in detail as we continue. It has extensive community support, and I'll talk about exactly how we managed to ascertain that early on before we worked forward with the Department of Social Services.

In terms of ways off the card, if you're on Newstart there's a very clear one: you can go to work. If you are employed, clearly you will not be on the card; you do not need Newstart. It is targeted specifically at those in my electorate who are aged 35 or under and are on particular payments, which we'll discuss a little bit later on. I say to those people in the Bundaberg area: we are continuing with the rollout. I'm disappointed that Labor is not supporting the recommendations for something which quite clearly works.

In terms of our community, I can only tell you that I was born there. It's part of my community. My family is there, I grew up there and my kids go to school there. I've had businesses there. I know extensively the difficulties we have, and I've got to tell you they've gotten worse. They've not gotten better; they have gotten worse. We need to do something which will make some changes, and the amendments proposed in the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Cashless Debit Card) Bill 2017 will do that.

You don't have to believe me, as I'm sure the Labor Party won't. I can show you some absolute demonstrations from my local community, including the local press. The first one is an article in the Fraser Coast Chronicle by Blake Antrobus—this was last year—saying that $5 million a month is lost on pokies, just in the Fraser Coast. That is without Bundaberg. That's almost another $5 million, so some $10 million every single month for 12 months.

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