Ben Morton (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Attendance with police protection is the norm, and ongoing conflict around the sick and injured while they're being treated by the attending St John volunteers is a nightly experience. When ambulance volunteers who deal with alcohol illness and the consequences of alcohol fuelled violence every night tell you that the cashless debit card is making a big difference, then we need to listen.

The card is working well, but other factors are creating some limitations. Sly grogging from neighbouring communities is a problem, as is the influx of people from out of town during the wet season. Quick booze like Poker Face, which is a cheap, sweet white wine in plastic squeezy bottles and easily sculled, remains an issue. Royalties payments continue to inject cash into the community and are not included in the income management of the cashless debit card.

Despite some of these challenges, positive impacts on employment have been found in the second evaluation. The cashless debit card is shown to increase motivation to find work. Motivating young people and getting more people employed is a key strength of this bill, especially with its inclusion of the Youth Jobs PaTH supplement on the cashless debit card. I am a very strong advocate of this program. The Youth Jobs PaTH intervenes with early investment and training to get people into work and off a path to lifelong welfare dependency. This program increases young people's employability and provides them with real work experience to get the start they need in the workforce. And the Youth Jobs PaTH helps to instil confidence in young people and is all about helping young Australians by getting them ready, giving them a go and getting them a job. Eligible participants are paid $200 a fortnight in a supplement in addition to their income support payment. The intent of this payment is to assist participants with the cost of travel to and from work and the purchase of clothing or equipment for their on-the-job training. This bill will ensure that the payment of the Youth Jobs PaTH supplement will be managed also through the cashless debit card and will not give participants and other community members access to more discretionary cash, which would undermine the community benefits we are seeing from the use of the cashless debit card.

There is some concern that the cashless debit card only targets majority Indigenous communities. This is direct feedback that I received from community members in Kununurra, and I'm not surprised that some people feel this way. The Indigenous proportion for the first two trial sites was approximately 78 per cent, but the cashless debit card does not target or distinguish. The cashless debit card applies equally to all participants regardless of background, race, religion or any other factor. The next trial communities, the Goldfields in WA and the Hinkler region in Queensland, have a greater proportion of non-Indigenous population. This should dispel perceptions that the card only targets Indigenous communities. With the addition of the Goldfields and the Hinkler region, the Indigenous proportion of cardholders will drop to approximately 33 per cent.

The cashless debit card is not designed to stigmatise or penalise people, and it doesn't. It doesn't take welfare payments away from people with alcohol, drug or gambling issues. In fact, it quarantines more money to spend on the good stuff—food, clothing and the kids. The cashless debit card aims to ensure that income support payments are spent in the best interests of the welfare payment recipients and their dependants. Regardless, it is so important to remember that the cashless debit card is only being rolled out to communities that strongly support its introduction. The cashless debit card is a policy for all Australians.

The announcement that two new communities would be added to the trial has opened the floodgates of support. There are community leaders lobbying for their community to be included in the extensions of this program. They want to be part of the success of this program, which is making lives better. And there is some sense of urgency from these communities, which are looking for more tools to address the devastating impact of alcohol, drugs and gambling on their residents.

In my home state of Western Australia, around 3,400 people who are recipients of working age payments such as Newstart and youth allowance will receive the card in Kalgoorlie, Boulder, Laverton, Leonora and Coolgardie. Like the East Kimberley and Ceduna trials, community consultation has been the key. At the new Goldfields trial location, community consultation has been extensive and inclusive. More than 30 consultations have taken place with local government across five local government areas. More than 45 consultations have taken place with local service providers and peak bodies on the front line working with disadvantaged families. There have been more than 50 consultations with frontline state government officials delivering health, education and public safety services and 10 community information centres hosted by the Department of Social Services in Kalgoorlie, Leonora, Laverton and Kambalda. These were attended by more than 180 people.

The bill maintains the legislative safeguards of the original trial, protecting how, when and where the cashless debit card can operate. The bill continues to ensure that the program cannot be implemented in any location without the introduction of a disallowable instrument. These instruments can also specify additional parameters, meaning the government can work constructively with additional communities to tailor the cashless debit card program to meet the needs of that community. These safeguards also ensure that parliament retains the right to consider each proposed new cashless debit card site. Instead of passing legislative amendments for these hypothetical communities and participants, this place can accept or reject new sites by considering the impacts and the level of community support for the measure on a case-by-case basis. The cashless debit card is a very considered and very well designed program. It is designed closely with the individual's community where the card is rolled out.

The announcement that two communities would be added to the trial has opened the floodgates of support. I'm quite sure that this parliament will back the support for this program by Goldfields and Hinkler, and the broader community, and pass these amendments as soon as possible. If there is dissent from the members opposite, it is ideological. In speaking against the cashless debate card, they are going against what the community and trial locations want and demand. By refusing an extended rollout into the Goldfields and Hinkler, they are precisely saying that this card is okay for those majority Indigenous communities but not okay for other non-Indigenous communities. That's shameful on their part.

An intervention on alcohol and drug dependence and violence and social unrest comes with this. I commend the work of the former Minister for Social Services and the former Minister for Human Services. Their reforms, which were announced in the extension of the cashless debit card, with greater mutual obligation provisions for welfare recipients, are bold but fair and they have my full support. The continuation of the cashless debit card in the East Kimberley and Ceduna, and the extension to the Goldfields and Hinkler, demonstrates this government's commitment to reducing social harm in areas with a high level of welfare dependency and to supporting vulnerable people, families and communities. Working-age welfare should not be compensation for the situation someone finds themselves in; rather, it must be an investment in where they can go. The lazy application of cash just isn't working; the cashless debit card is.

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