Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

One of the arguments that the government has been making is that this is different because they have actually gone out and done consultation. I will say that in the past governments from both sides, when they were talking about income management, have said they had carried out consultation too, and in fact that plainly was not sufficient. I would suggest that, while there has been some consultation and meetings undertaken by the government, there clearly was inadequate consultation undertaken in Ceduna.

There is a petition that should have been tabled today—if not, it is being tabled tomorrow. Over 200 people have signed the petition, which is around 10 per cent of the population of Ceduna. They have said, 'We don't like this.' We know there is a climate of pressure on a number of people in Ceduna about this particular trial, but individuals who are on Newstart, carers payment or DSP have not been consulted. As far as we can tell, from the limited time we have had available during the Senate inquiry, what happened is that while some of the office bearers in Ceduna have said, 'Yes, we like this idea,' they have not consulted their actual constituents. People who are actually on income support have not been consulted. For some, the first time they found out about this was when they saw it in the media. There was no town meeting. In fact, the only meetings that have been held in the broader population in Ceduna are by the people who hold concerns about this particular measure. So the government cannot claim that they have had an extensive consultation period.

I notice that the opposition tailored their comments largely to Ceduna. This government, though, is planning to roll this out in East Kimberley. Just last week we had the Halls Creek Shire and the Aboriginal advisory committee to the local shire reject the healthy welfare card. So the government cannot claim that they have overwhelming support from either the broader community in Australia or, particularly in East Kimberley, from a large number of Aboriginal people who are rejecting this particular measure. So much for the consultation process. It is very clear that there has not been a lot of consultation with many members of the community who will be subjected to this particular measure.

There are many people in Ceduna who have been emailing me, who have presented evidence to the committee, who gave very eloquent evidence about what impact this particular measure will have on their lives. Unfortunately, I am going to run out of time but there are a lot of issues about the implementation of this particular measure. Senator Moore outlined some of those issues that came up during the committee process and some of those measures are addressed again in the letter from the minister, but there are still significant issues. What are the minimum purchase prices that you will be able to use when you are using your ETPOS card? What happens when you lose your card? I know from personal experience that when you are in regional and remote areas you cannot get a card replaced very quickly.

Government senators interjecting—

Mr President, I have limited time as it is, without having to compete with interjections.