Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I think the bulk of people will not want to move, but there may be some who want to take up the opportunity of lucrative vacancies that are available, for example, in Western Australia. Components of this legislation are about the Northern Territory. Other components, such as household surveillance and the draconian coercive powers of the Australian Crime Commission, intrude into Aboriginal communities right across Australia—from Tasmania to Broome—so the government should not be too precious about that. There are estimates of 5,000 to 10,000 people being taken off CDEP and put elsewhere. The point is that that is a one-size-fits-all move. The government is saying, ‘We are going to make a big move on that.’ And so the government has a responsibility to make sure that people move to something better, more productive and—I would say—more lucrative for the work that they produce as a result of it. The CDEP move has the hallmarks of being punitive. It ought not to be. It ought to be aimed at making sure that the individuals involved end up better off.