Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

Just very briefly, the opposition won't be supporting this amendment. It's very clear that the removal of compulsory income management is a disaster for affected communities. You don't need to believe the opposition. You don't need to believe a number of the members who have made outstanding contributions in this parliament to this debate; all you have to do is look at the crime statistics. We warned the government very clearly that abolishing the cashless debit card would be a disaster for those communities. It would unleash alcohol and drugs into those communities and ultimately result in misery for the most vulnerable people in already vulnerable circumstances. We saw statistics out of Ceduna that since this cashless debit card was abolished violent crimes have doubled. For anyone who doubts them, these are not the opposition's statistics; these are South Australian police statistics. We therefore cannot support the amendments.

We understand the Greens position is very clear. They don't support compulsory income management. The government doesn't support compulsory income management, irrespective of the consequences for vulnerable individuals in already vulnerable communities. Consistent with my earlier contributions to this debate, because at the heart of this bill we will see people on compulsory income management in the Northern Territory get access to the better technology, let's be frank, of the cashless debit card, which has been rebranded by this government at huge cost to taxpayers in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, we will not stand in the way of those on the BasicsCard getting access to the rebranded cashless debit card. For that reason, again, we won't be supporting this amendment.

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