Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Hinkler on his contribution. He is a man who wears his heart on his sleeve, He's a fellow tradie. He's worked assiduously behind the scenes in the party room. The member for Hinkler is someone who genuinely cares about his community and is here because he wants to make a difference. There are not too many people who could speak on the Social Security (Administration) Amendment (Income Management Reform) Bill 2023 with the same sort of authority. In fact, there are really only four people who could speak on this bill with the same authority as the member for Hinkler. I commend him for his great work in this space.

I rise to speak on this income management reform bill with some concerns. These are concerns which have been raised by the opposition on behalf of wearied and worried Australian families. These are families who are barely making ends meet, families who have struggled over the last six months to put food on the table, to turn on their air-con, to pay for kids' sport and to keep their businesses afloat. As we speak, there are businesses across this country whose owners have their heads in their hands, wondering how they are going to make payroll on Thursday and how they are going to make all of the payments and deal with all of the bills. I've been there. I've been there in my own small businesses for over 30 years. I'll just dip into the overdraft one more time; I'll put it on the credit card—anything to keep the business alive. For those people who are out there tonight who might be listening to this, know that there are people in this chamber that understand your predicament, and we have been where you are. Every decision we make in this place—I know this is going to sound trite—but for every decision we make in this place we should have you and your families front and centre of our minds.

Those people are, after all, the people who elected us. They are the reason why we are here. These are real people who, in my view, have been abandoned by this Labor government, a Labor government whose priorities are out of whack. They're out of touch of the needs of everyday Australians, and they are patently out of their depth on things that matter to everyday Australians. I speak on this bill concerned that this Labor government simply have no idea what they are doing—either that or they just don't seem to care. I'm not sure which one it is. Maybe it's both. While the coalition will not stand in the way of the government on this bill, we have a number of questions which those opposite have yet to this answer.

Question one: when will this reform actually take place? It appears as if Labor don't know when the bill will take effect. Either that or they are keeping Australians in the dark, yet again. Regulatory impact statements help policy makers, in particular government, consider how proposals affect businesses, individuals and community organisations, as well as broader social, economic and legal impacts. This process must be entered into honestly and in good faith. Last year, the government's regulation impact statement for the bill abolishing the cashless debit card stated:

Current income management participants will continue to use the BasicsCard, and move to a new card with enhanced functionality from 1 July 2023.

Australians and the Public Service alike expect the government will keep its word when it says something like that. Australians rely upon that. Where they can't, where government can't keep their word, then Australians expect their government to be honest, to be clear and to give some sort of an explanation. That has got to be the bare minimum obligation on government.

Yet, this government has not offered any deadline since that statement. The bill text, the explanatory memorandum and the government's material fail to mention any start date or firm time line. We are being asked to vote on legislation with a vague commencement date. While we do so in good faith, it is incumbent on this government to do their job and keep Australians and their elected representatives informed. The fact that those opposite haven't even bothered to tell parliament, much less some of our most vulnerable Australians on income management, when the transition will commence shows a complete disregard for the Australian people. It shows contempt. It shows arrogance and ignorance and, dare I say, incompetence. This Labor government are so blinded by an ideological crusade on income management that they are willing to risk the wellbeing and independence of vulnerable Australians in regional communities.

Question two: how will they manage the transition? The Sydney Morning Herald on 5 March 2023 revealed that Services Australia had advised Minister Rishworth that meeting the government's transition deadline would be highly problematic, because of what it called IT issues. We are calling on the government to tell us what advice they've received on this matter. Do they share our concerns? Do they share the concerns of Australians on the capacity of their social services safety net? What is this government doing about it? Instead of answers and clarity and honesty, we've had ministers going to ground and throwing political darts. You can rabbit on about politics and play your nasty political games, but in the end it will be Australians who suffer the consequences. That is Labor's way: they play games, they make bold promises, and they rack up the bill for everyday Australians. In the end, average Australians pay the price.

The opposition understands that maintaining the systems which support Australians to access the services and payments they need, including income management, is vital. We would be happy to work with the government to improve the efficiency and technical capacity of Services Australia, but technical capacity means attracting and retraining skilled workers. That's why it's very concerning that, instead of strengthening Services Australia's workforce, Labor have actually cut jobs. Can you believe that? For a party, an organisation and a government that have been so front and centre in saying they're all about jobs, they have cut jobs. In fact, in December the Australian people were told by an agency spokesperson that up to 1,000 specialist IT jobs had been axed. Under questioning in Senate estimates, Services Australia revealed that 1,024 contractor jobs had been culled by this sneaky Labor government. This exacerbates the brain drain in government services. They deprived Services Australia of the expertise it needs to support Australians, particularly those who will undergo this transition. The Community and Public Sector Union has been calling for years to cut the use of contractors. Once again, the federal Labor government is doing the unions' bidding, instead of listening to the experts and delivering for Australians in need.

The fact is that the government haven't thought through the implications of this transition. Even the Office of Impact Analysis found that their assessment wasn't good practice and that the transition plans require more detail. Despite $150 million being allocated to manage this transition—$150 million in taxpayers' funds—Labor still can't answer whether Services Australia has the trained resources ready to deliver this program. Inefficient technical capacity, job cuts to appease the unions and a shoddy assessment process—we know where this goes. We've read this book; we know how it ends. It means budget blowouts. It means service cuts. It means panicked purchasing and Public Service bloating. It means the federal Labor government showing the Australian people just how out of depth they really are.

Question 3: what will these changes do? The worst part is that, despite all of their investment, incompetence and intransigence, the government still don't actually know what the new program will do. Speaking to ABC Goldfields on 15 February, the Assistant Minister for Social Services said the new SmartCard will be able to be used for online transactions, 'which the cashless debit card didn't allow'. Let's fact-check that. That is fundamentally false. The Services Australia website says:

You can use your CDC at over one million EFTPOS terminals around Australia and do your shopping online.

In fact, during Senate estimates that same day, officials admitted that there is no technological difference between the cashless debit card and the government's new SmartCard. They're even run by the same organisation: Indue. The government labelled the cashless debit card a failed program, yet they are shamelessly relaunching the same service to provide voluntary income management to vulnerable communities. It's the same service with a different name. They rebrand; they rebadge; they reheat. They've treated their 10 months in office as though government is just another do-it-yourself project. They sand down quality policies, throw on a lick of paint or some tacky content and post it on Facebook, hoping that Australians will wear it.

What was one man's treasure, Labor have turned into another man's trash. Removing the compulsory nature of this income management service takes away its major strength. It forced those who could not otherwise manage their income to confront the harms they are inflicting on others and themselves, but particularly their families. It made it much more difficult to fuel addiction and fund unlawful behaviour. I really, seriously wouldn't have thought that anybody in this place could have thought that blowing money on the pokies or on online gambling would have been better than putting clothes on your kids or feeding your kids. I've been very, very vocal and outspoken about our obligations as a community, particularly in relation to gambling, and if people have got such a huge problem with their gambling, blowing money that they can't afford, or if they can't look after their children, then government has an obligation to step in to look after those kids.

Labor have taken the coalition's landmark income management program which was saving lives and livelihoods and they have dismantled good policy. They have shaved it down, they have broken it and now they are fumbling their way back to the drawing board. Since the repeal of the CDC, we have seen vulnerable communities feeling the devastation. Street crime, gambling, alcohol-fuelled violence, child neglect—no one is suggesting that these things didn't happen under our watch. No one is suggesting that. But why would we change something that seemed to be working? The definition of insanity is to keep doing what you have always been doing and expecting a different result. We introduced something different and we got good results, and those opposite have trashed it. What a waste of taxpayers' money! What a waste of Australia's goodwill!

Question 4 goes to why this Labor government continues to turn its back on regional Australia. The continuation of the cashless debit card program was in direct response to calls from community leaders who told us that it was making a difference. The cashless debit card strikes a balance between allowing welfare recipients to make independent purchasing decisions and helping to create safe communities. The unions get what the unions want because the unions pay Labor's way to this place. The coalition saw lives being destroyed in vulnerable communities because of generational welfare dependence, child abuse, alcoholism and addiction. We took action because good governments take action when confronted with challenges. The cashless debit card was core to that response, and it worked. Ask the people of Ceduna. Ask the people of the goldfields. Or, close to my patch, ask the people of Bundy and Hervey Bay.

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