Julian Simmonds (Ryan, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Social Security (Administration) Amendment (Continuation of Cashless Welfare) Bill 2020. Good governments identify issues and take action to make our community stronger and safer and to support all Australians. That's what the bill before the House does. It is yet another example of the Morrison government taking action to find the best way to support our communities and, importantly, allow people to take control of their own decisions and make good choices for their families and for their communities. The government is committed to delivering positive outcomes to vulnerable people, families and communities and to providing certainty to participants through support services. We know that, where there are high levels of welfare dependence, there are also high levels of social harm. We know that, if no action is taken, we cannot expect things to change or for these communities and these families to find an improved and better way.

That is why I support the government's ongoing commitment to the cashless debit card. The cashless debit card supports the government's commitment to an effective and fair welfare system and aims to reduce harm in communities where high levels of alcohol and drug misuse and gambling coexist with high levels of welfare dependence. Importantly, the program is working. Minister Ruston has spoken often about the feedback on the ground that the government is getting—the positive stories—not just from participants but also, importantly, from first responders who are located in these communities and dealing with the inevitable outcomes that come from alcohol and drug misuse and gambling.

Those who are on the front line are seeing the difference in the number of offences that are occurring, the severity of offences and, as the member for Barker spoke about so well, the opportunities and outlook for these families, particularly kids whose families are struggling with these issues. The card is even proving to be a way in which disadvantaged communities are facilitating proper budgeting to support themselves and their families. The cashless debit card encourages better choices and provides the tools with which to encourage greater financial control, positive decisions and, if at all possible, an end to that cycle of addiction.

But don't take it from me. Members of the House can take it from people who are out there using the cashless debit card. One participant in the cashless debit card evaluation said: 'Because I was a bad drinker, sometimes I couldn't control how I spent my money and stuff, so I would waste it and then sober up and think, where's all my money gone? Now I find it good for me, because I still have that money there if I spend all my cash. I probably drink once a week.' Another participant said: 'Some people have been saving the money in their cashless debit card and purchasing bigger items. It's working. It's like a kitty, that savings. If they look at it like that, some of them, if they're not drinkers or they're not spending all their money in one go, it can be that kind of savings.'

This is the kind of positive change that the program is helping people create. It is helping people to take control of their lives in a more practical and meaningful way. It is making a real and tangible difference to those Australians, to those Australian families and to those communities—who, quite frankly, are grappling with these kinds of issues and struggling financially as they do so. And that feedback from participants who are using the card isn't our only measure of success. Where this program has been taken up, the numbers speak for themselves. The trials in my home state of Queensland, in the regional communities of Bundaberg and Hervey Bay, show that youth unemployment dropped from 28 per cent in May 2018 to 18.1 per cent in May 2019. That is a drop of almost 10 per cent in a 12-month period.

In fact, an ANU evaluation, in reference to the trial sites across the country, noted 'consistent and clear evidence that alcohol consumption has reduced since the introduction of the cashless debit card'. The evaluation also found: 'The cashless debit card is helping to reduce gambling, with positive impacts, especially in the context of family and broader social life.' We will of course continue as a government to listen to the feedback and monitor the rollout of the card and the value it presents to some of our most vulnerable individuals and communities. But we should all continue to be seeking to work towards the positive outcomes that we have already experienced as part of this trial.

Look, you cannot guarantee that everybody will make positive choices. We know that, and we know that the hold of addiction can be incredibly strong. I say to Labor members opposite: Why not allow us to use every opportunity we can to help people take that control, take that path out of addiction and make positive changes and positive choices in their lives? Why don't we use every opportunity that we have to make that difference in these vulnerable communities, especially a difference like this one where there is such tangible evidence that it is achieving a difference for the better? Why would we suddenly put that back in our holster, not to be used again? Of course we wouldn't. If we're seeing results like that in terms of how the trial has been conducted, of course we want to see it continue.

As we know, any welfare measure is ideally a temporary one and is also tied to other measures that help people achieve a job. The best form of welfare is a job, and this bill works in tandem with the other things that the Morrison government is doing to ensure that there are opportunities in these communities to get into full-time and gainful employment. We on this side the House know that a job isn't just a pay cheque for people. We know that it is an opportunity for their family; it is security and self-worth for the individual; and it is independence for these communities. The member for Mayo spoke on this just before, and, while I don't agree with everything she said in her speech, I will take her up on this point that she made. It is not the card alone that achieves change in these communities, and we know that; it is a suite of measures, including training and employment opportunities, that work as a whole to ensure that people can make positive choices for their families. We know that this government has a record of achieving just that. Prior to COVID, more than 1.5 million jobs had been created right across the country by this government. That is an extraordinary achievement. We promised that we would create jobs and we did it. We know how to do it and we will continue to do it. We will do it again as we climb out of the COVID-19 recession. No-one could have predicted the crisis that hit us with COVID-19, but the Morrison government's reaction has been strong, swift and effective in the form of implementing JobSeeker and JobKeeper. That has sent a strong message to all Australians that this government has their back through what are some of the toughest times that we've had during the year 2020, and we certainly do still have their back.

The most important part of Australia's economic recovery is yet to come, and that is getting Australians back into jobs, getting them back into work and maintaining the work that they currently have. We saw, in the recent budget that the Treasurer presented, that that forms a key part of our economic recovery plan for Australia. I want to commend the work that the Prime Minister and the minister for small business, Michaelia Cash, are doing through the JobMaker program, preparing our labour market for the future by strengthening the education and training sector and the education and training opportunities for all Australians. Significant work has been done in this area. Perhaps that work is not as well recognised as we would have hoped—based on what we heard from the previous speaker, the member for Mayo—but significant work and effort have gone into making sure that, if people aren't in full-time employment at the moment because of COVID-19, they have the opportunity to spend that time strengthening their education and training.

Just this week, Labor spent what time they have outside of their own internal problems—because that's taking up most of the Labor members' time, effort and energy—talking down the JobMaker hiring credit. That is a great shame. This program is providing a real incentive for businesses to hire young Australians to help them get back into the workforce. Yesterday in question time, we heard the Treasurer reiterate again that young Australians are incredibly hard hit by the COVID-19 recession. They have an unemployment rate double that of other age demographics. They need extra help. We know that youth unemployment, in particular, takes a long time to bounce back from a recession, and it needs particular focus and support. The JobMaker hiring credit will do that. In the same way that JobKeeper has been supporting 3.5 million workers to stay in a job, the JobMaker hiring credit will now support 450,000 younger workers to get back into employment and no longer be on that income support.

We know we must take these steps to help young people in particular to access job opportunities and to reconnect them with the labour force as the economy recovers from the effects of the coronavirus. We do not want to condemn our young Australians—an entire generation of Australians—to long-term unemployment because they failed to get to that first rung on the employment ladder. We want to make sure that there is a particular focus on helping them achieve their goals and aspirations, because, after all, that is what our Australian community is all about.

The fact that those Labor members opposite don't understand the importance of this measure only further demonstrates to Australians how out of touch the Labor members are and how it's only this government that has their backs and only this government that they can trust to focus on ensuring that there are job opportunities out there in the Australian market, for them to get back to work, so that, at the end of the day, they can provide the opportunities that they want for their families and see them prosper.

To go back to the substantive legislation: we support this particular bill. It is a very important bill. We want to support these communities as they seek to make positive choices and to tackle, as a community, the scourge of drug and alcohol abuse and addiction which can hold some people so very strongly. We want to enable positive choices for these families. At the end of the day, it's these people in these communities who will work with the tools that are provided in this bill—in this case, the debit card—to provide positive change and positive choices for their families, and allow them to achieve their aspirations in the Australian community.

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