Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's almost one year since the House last debated this proposal. It's almost a sense of deja vu, but like a bad smell, here we are back again. I hope that, when the Senate again does its work, this bill will be well on the way to becoming another one of those zombie bills that hang around on the government's Notice Paper going nowhere. It's called the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Drug Testing Trial) Bill 2018. You could just be honest and call it the 'drive up crime' bill. That's what a former Australian Federal Police commissioner said this bill will do. You still can't find one single credible expert that says this bill will do anything meaningful to address drug addiction. It will just demonise people on welfare, which serves your political purpose. We know that well, having lived through the by-elections with the rubbish and the bile that you spew out in communities. All it will do is drive up crime, and you know it. You haven't taken advice. You didn't take advice from the health minister. You have no experts on your side. It's just brain-dead prejudice.

See this speech in context