Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Deputy Speaker. Those were the words of the member opposite and not mine. But I do commend the bill and I commend the minister, the member for Kingston, on her work in this very important area of public policy.

This bill delivers on our government's election commitment to reform income management. It's a product of meaningful community consultation and proposes amendments that will give effect to the broader rollout of enhanced income management, focusing on expanded access to a modern financial experience provided through the enhanced income management regime and the SmartCard. It also takes further steps to address the clear message given by the Senate legislative committee that the BasicsCard is out of date. The government has listened to feedback from communities that the BasicsCard technology is out of date and does not meet their needs. The service offering of the BasicsCard has become increasingly out of step with modern expectations. The former government, those opposite, didn't invest in the BasicsCard because they were focused on pushing more and more people onto their privatised cashless debit card. This bill will give access to a modern financial experience for all new income management participants by providing a contemporary debit card and associated bank account.

This bill provides all existing income management participants a choice to move to the enhanced technology until a decision is made on the future of the BasicsCard. Users currently on the BasicsCard will have the choice to transition to the SmartCard. This bill also ensures that new entrants will not be placed on the old technology of the BasicsCard. That's a very good thing, because it is out of date. The BasicsCard is only accepted by preapproved merchants, limiting where people can shop and restricting where people can spend their money. Currently, if a BasicsCard holder attempts to shop outside the available permitted merchants, they are often shut out of legitimate transactions purely because of the restricted technology. That can stigmatise BasicsCard users unfairly. The SmartCard will give participants a better experience, with increased choice on how and where they can spend their money. The more modern SmartCard also provides banking functions, including the tap-to-pay payments that we all take for granted, online shopping and BPAY bill payments—and we all know how handy they are.

Importantly, the SmartCard is delivered by Services Australia and has a PIN for added protection. The updated SmartCard technology reduces the likelihood that a welfare payment recipient will be subject to undue harassment or rejection of a legitimate in-store payment because of their welfare status. Card users shouldn't be rejected simply because that business has not been signed up to accept the BasicsCard. With this bill, the Albanese government will deliver more choice through the SmartCard, which is a better product, with modern financial technology that will meet community expectations and do so at a cheaper cost than the previous cashless debit card. The privatised cashless debit card has now been abolished, and that is a good thing. All compulsory welfare quarantining in cashless debit card regions has ended, and on 6 March former cashless debit card participants in the Northern Territory and Cape York and Doomadgee region transitioned to the new, enhanced income management program. Our work now is to support these communities and always continue to consult.

The October budget allocated $217-plus million to abolish the Cashless Debit Card program and fund support services. The sum of $158.4 million, over 70 per cent of this funding, will be used to provide support services to people in former Cashless Debit Card program communities. We will not abandon these communities—quite the opposite. After consulting with them, we are supporting them. This includes support for a youth mentoring program in Ceduna, which runs activities including after-school and holiday care; parenting education and support in Wyndham; community navigator programs; and financial literacy and digital literacy. Coming from the Northern Territory, I know how important these services are and how important support is to communities. We're empowering them with better technology, but we're also making sure there's a proper use of taxpayer funds in supporting these communities. The government is also investing $17 million for an economic development grant round, which is currently underway, to implement projects to create sustainable jobs in Ceduna, East Kimberley, the Goldfields and Cape York, and $1.5 million for immediate community priorities in this region—real money backing sustainable futures and pathways for these communities.

Our government understand the decisions that impact First Nations people must be made in the spirit of real partnership. Our government is working with communities on what the future of income management looks like for them. I look forward to the future voices of people in First Nations communities making sure that we are doing the right thing, as advised by them, and making sure that the data, the evidence and the information provided by those who are looking at this program stays relevant and responds to feedback and so forth. Any decisions about the future of income management will be based on that genuine consultation with communities, state and territory governments, and experts in the field. We'll keep getting on with the job and we'll reform income management to provide a better experience for participants into the future.

This legislation is simple and directly responds to the clear message from individuals and communities where income management operates that the BasicsCard was out of date and no longer meets their needs. That is why, as I have highlighted, this bill will ensure that no new income management participant is issued the out-of-date BasicsCard. It's important to note that, while the bill offers existing participants a choice to access enhanced income management, it does not expand on the existing legislation. Existing income management participants will have the choice to move to enhanced income management and will receive the necessary support from Services Australia when they choose to do so.

Services Australia currently supports income management participants and will continue to do so for all who choose to move to enhanced income management. Services Australia is providing all aspects of client interface for enhanced income management. This is a significant change from the Cashless Debit Card program, the privatised program, as individuals will interact with government rather than a private business to check balances, to get replacement cards or to get advice on how to set up a regular payment. With Services Australia delivering an enhanced income management, rather than a private, third-party interface, this support will be available to provide not only income management support but also support in other areas. Individual support, tailored to the needs of each participant, will include assisting them to set up new regular payments for bills or other essential services.

For many people, moving to the SmartCard may mean that they need help to learn how they set up their rent payments and other deductions, and that is where Services Australia support is essential. This bill is an important reform for thousands of Australians. Our government is committed to giving more choice to the nearly 25,000 participants currently on income management to access this superior technology.

These changes will benefit the more than 22,400 people in the Northern Territory, where I am from, who are presently on the out-of-date BasicsCard. It will benefit the nearly 5,000 of those Territorians who are vulnerable and disengaged youth whose access to modern financial technology is delayed by the out-of-date BasicsCard. Moving to the SmartCard will have a long-term positive effect on their financial literacy. That is very important. This reform will have a long-term, intergenerational impact on communities in the Northern Territory and across the country.

I note that this bill does not remove the income management program or amend the underlying policy. The same existing restrictions apply to an individual's welfare payment where they meet specific eligibility criteria to ensure a portion of their payment cannot be spent on restricted goods. Nor does the bill change the eligibility criteria which determine whether an individual is placed on income management. As such, no participants will exit the scheme who would otherwise be subject to income management. When it comes to income management, the rules and the laws applying in Alice Springs and the Northern Territory have not changed.

What has changed is that the users of the SmartCard will have a superior experience to the BasicsCard technology. They will have access to cutting-edge financial technology like that which most of us enjoy. They will have more choice over how and where they can spend the money, and they will have an enhanced user experience with Services Australia. It is an important piece of legislation for communities in the Northern Territory and around the country, and, again, I commend the minister and I commend this bill to the House.

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