Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The government certainly has and we've funded it too. Since the cashless debit card program first started in 2016, the coalition has provided more than $13 million to deliver complementary and support services at all trial sites. That investment has been used to support drug and alcohol rehabilitation services, community hubs, family and children's programs, financial counselling and wellbeing programs and more. In the recent budget, this government announced a $30 million job-ready initiative to improve employment outcomes and opportunities in the cashless debit card trial sites, which also coincide mostly with the CDP sites, which are currently following their own jobs training initiatives tailored to the employment prospects in their particular geographical areas.

The entire Goldfields actually has a chronic shortage of workers, and many of the 1,000-plus job vacancies are actually for unskilled and low-skilled positions—effectively starter jobs. Many of these job opportunities provide training towards formal qualifications, but even a lower skilled job still require a degree of job readiness that many working-age welfare recipients have to date been unable to achieve and haven't been provided. That's why shires like Laverton are grateful for the nearly half a million dollars from the federal government to establish and deliver job readiness training for jobs available in their patch. This is why they've engaged an experienced job readiness trainer, Mr Mac Jensen, who has a proven track record of working with, particularly, Aboriginal youth, providing them with the necessary skills to secure and retain a job.

I want to digress for a minute. One of the privileges of our job is that we've all come across remarkable people in our travels. I see the member for Lingiari has joined us, and I'm sure he would have many stories to relate as well. Mac Jensen, who's a former Army officer, who worked with NORFORCE, who's worked with Aboriginal people in Aboriginal communities most of his working life, set up a program in the town of Wiluna in the northern Goldfields, a very isolated community with mining opportunities around the town. He engaged with the local Aboriginal people, particularly the families, identified those who really wanted to find the work and change the circumstances in which they lived, and he ran a program in Wiluna which revolved around road construction. The state government, the WA government, to their credit stumped up the funding for five kilometres of road construction and sealing on the Wiluna to Meekatharra road, which his team worked on and honed their skills. Eight of the 12 people involved in that program are now in full-time work, which is a remarkable outcome. We've seen many of these programs that have come and gone and haven't delivered the goods. Certainly Mac Jensen is right on the money.

The City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder has been granted almost $1 million to coordinate job-ready training activities for over 2,000 cashless debit card participants and to provide support for the job-ready training activities for the surrounding shires. Yesterday a federal grant round closed which had invited community groups to put forward their ideas and proposals for increasing engagement and opportunities in their regions. So, while Labor claim that instead of the cashless debit card they will provide an employment program in these communities, it seems they haven't done their homework because these actions are already in motion. Bringing forward the termination of the cashless debit card program to January 2022 will only launch the Goldfields cashless debit card trial sites and the over 3,000 participants into disarray. Labor's reckless plan to scrap the cashless debit card will put vulnerable people in these communities back at risk.

I can tell you from firsthand experience that children who went to school hungry are now being fed at home or purchasing food with the cashless debit card, so much so that school meals programs have been scrapped at some primary schools. Elders who volunteered to be put on the cashless debit card now avoid the humbugging and elder abuse they used to endure. Mothers and grandmothers now have money on their visa debit card to buy groceries, toys and clothes. When available as cash, this has been squandered in the past on gambling or the purchase of alcohol and drugs. Whilst it's never been claimed that the cashless debit card will be the universal panacea, it has been working well in addressing some of the social harm previously experienced in the Goldfields region of my electorate. So, while Labor are intent on undoing the great results the cashless debit card program has had thus far, I remain committed to helping unemployed Goldfields constituents and their community stabilise their lives. I commend the bill to the House.

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