Ann Sudmalis (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I've been involved in this process since the pilot of the cashless debit card, and have seen the statements and comments from the communities that were taken into consideration. And while the pilots were done in two remote communities, I know there are actually people in my community who would benefit from such a program.

Somehow, and in some way, we need to help turn the tide on the dependency cycle of drug and alcohol addiction and the subsequent social and cultural damage that are the results. Some people will think I'm referring only to the cashless debit card that has been trialled in these two very self-motivated communities in remote Australia, who wished to do it and who were consulted during the whole process, but I'm not. This initiative was set in motion by a request from that community—from their elders, from all of the stakeholders in that community. It was their desperate project to rescue their children, their neighbourhood and their self-respect.

Alcohol and drugs are the causes of so much destruction: whether it's the physical damage to the jaw of the woman, the virginity of the child, the broken leg of the young boy, the hole in the wall, the wreck of a car accident, or the effect on the unborn child who will develop learning difficulties at best or the incapacity to learn due to brain damage and disability because of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. How can anyone think that this is not a good policy?

The previous speaker, the member for Parramatta, spoke of questions in relation to the survey from the interpersonal responses. Any survey can be interpreted in any way, depending on the perspective of the researcher. The opposition are fundamentally opposed to this scheme, so of course they will find little pieces of statistics in there that match their counterargument. They talk about the $7,000 to $9,000 cost per person; we actually see this as an investment in these people. We're trying to prevent the car accidents that come about because of drunken drivers; we're trying to prevent the hospitalisation of women and children because of domestic violence; we're trying to prevent them losing their children because of their bad behaviour and their inability to manage how they spend the money they receive. All of these preventions are actually savings for the community and giving them the ability to deal with what's going on in their lives.

These issues are so significant to me and they're not just related to remote communities. All the above issues—the domestic violence, the child sexual abuse, car accidents, hospitalisation and FASD—are not limited to remote Australia. They exist in everyone's backyard to a greater or lesser extent. This is everyone's problem, and we must seriously work together to repair the damage that, in some communities, is entrenched.

The cashless debit card cannot and should not be summarily dismissed. That would effectively be turning our backs on the communities who are plagued by drug and alcohol addiction and gambling abuse. The cashless debit card has been in operation in Ceduna in South Australia and in the Kimberley in Western Australia since April 2016, and is planned for introduction into the Western Australian Goldfields, and Bundaberg and Hervey Bay from early this year. It was introduced with the support of the local leaders to combat the excessive welfare-fuelled alcohol abuse in particular.

I hate to think that we would stop bringing in a good program because some people will try and get around a good program. Bad people will always invent a way to continue to be bad. But does that mean that we stop the social benefit—because of somebody's bad social ingenuity? We can't stop them all the time, but we can do our best, because every human life is valuable. We do our best to try and prevent drug addiction. We do our best to try and prevent alcohol addiction. We do our best to try and prevent gambling abuse. You can't actually teach that person unless they admit to themselves they have a problem. Then they start that cycle but don't have as much ready cash. It's part of the game of changing their behaviour, and it's so important.

But, honestly, the main game here is to look after the vulnerable. The main game here is to look after the women subject to domestic violence. The main game is to look after the children—their education, their food. How can they learn if they're hungry because their parents have spent the money on something else? This is the main game of this program and that's something we should never lose sight of.

One of the previous speakers said you can't automatically transfer funds for renting your premises. Last time I spoke to Centrelink, people who were renting a house had rent assistance and it went straight to the landlord or the department of housing or whatever, but Centrelink took care of that for them. So I seriously don't think that that should be a problem.

In East Kimberley, one of the elders said they supported the card because 'alcohol abuse is destroying our community and our culture and devastating the lives of the children'. How can a drunk adult teach their children about culture in an Indigenous community? I doubt they could even get the dots on a dot painting in a straight line, let alone teach them about their history and philosophy, and the beautiful culture that goes along with their guardianship of the land. It's just not going to happen.

It's estimated that a quarter of all babies in remote communities are born with brain damage from alcohol abuse. This is scary. This is absolutely scary. FASD isn't even a diagnostic tool with all doctors. Some doctors don't even know about it. So how can they diagnose it and get more teachers and more resources into a school for children who have been affected by alcohol during that first trimester of pregnancy?

This card, which restricts money spent on alcohol, drugs and gambling, was subject to an independent evaluation—done by ORIMA Research—which, as I said, can be interpreted in different ways according to different people because statistics always can be, but there has been a considerable positive impact in the communities where it is operating. Forty-one per cent were drinking less, 48 per cent were gambling less and taking fewer drugs, and 40 per cent said they were better able to care for their children. Even more importantly, the number of car accidents was reduced, the number of hospital entrants was reduced, the number of domestic violence incidents was reduced and there were more children attending school. Those are undeniable facts and undeniable statistics.

In the Goldfields, each of the elected councils in the region supported the card's introduction. There were over 270 consultations undertaken. In Hervey Bay, there were over 110 consultations, including public forums and a community-wide survey to which 75 per cent responded in favour. In Gilmore, there are many community advocates also requesting the introduction of this card. I agree there should be proper community consultation, but not that costs us an arm and a leg, quite literally—where children are damaged during a domestic violence fight. Let's make sure we get our stakeholders on board and make sure we bring this in properly. It is my belief that most of these potential participants will be only too keen for the card, to break the cycle.

We know it will help make a difference to young kids' lives. Some kids are neglected, and parents are out of control, which is why we have so many custodial grandparents. We can't stop that unless we do something to intervene. Some of the Indigenous people said that they are burying people. They still have funerals ahead of them to lay people to rest, because of abuse of alcohol. Somehow, someway, we have to change the cycle. These communities are crying out for help to stop the drug and alcohol abuse, to stop the violence and to build better lives for their children. The cashless debit card is not a silver bullet, but it has led to fundamental improvement in these pilot communities.

There are very few other initiatives that have had such an impact. If we can develop a better way to use money, where the welfare support is spent on food for the family, school uniforms, toys and all the other trappings of a better home environment, surely that is a worthwhile target. Surely we can aim to reduce the number of young people coming into hospital. Surely we can reduce the number of children being beaten up. Surely we can reduce the number of women presenting with a broken jaw, teeth knocked out, black eyes, broken arms. Surely we can stop it. Surely we can reduce the number of children being removed from their homes because the parents, addicted to ice, are incapable of looking after their children.

I have one family back home where the grandmother is desperately trying to get access to her grandchildren, because the mother is addicted to ice. The father is the dealer of ice. Every time people come in they say to the family, 'We're going to come in and inspect your family,' so the lady cleans the house up, because she is not actually on ice at that moment; she is in her regular time. FACS comes in and says, 'Yes, they're fine.' The grandmother knows that these children are at risk. She's desperate to bring this in, because she knows it will help break the cycle.

Surely we can get less gambling debt, less alcoholism and end this cycle of drug-taking. This card is most definitely a step in the right direction to help all of those in our community who have not had the chance to learn about balancing budgets, or that food comes before dope, beer, ice and the pokies. Financial literacy is not about giving people a booklet on how to put your money in the bank and take it out only when you need to spend it on things that are important to your family. That's a long-term learning curve for some families if they haven't learned it in their own family. I have third-generation families who have never put a cent in the bank themselves. They don't know how to. The only money they've ever had is income support.

Let's not squander this opportunity for breaking the cycle of what's happening in some of our lower socioeconomic-status areas and some of our areas where people really don't know that this isn't the way to behave for their children. Let's put our kids first; let's put our women first; let's put our communities first. In the end it's putting our nation first.

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