Sue Lines (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I appreciate that, and I was not necessarily going to say that government was dictating how this would work. I appreciate that it is at a local level, but these are important considerations and I am mindful that we need to ensure that this process is culturally appropriate. Particularly in Western Australia, where I know the trial is not up, given the shocking history of intervention, of non-Aboriginal people dictating to Aboriginal people what will happen, of many Aboriginal people being part of the stolen generation and living on reserves and so on in Western Australia, I would be very concerned about how we roll out this authorised person.

It is not appropriate for somebody to have to go into a Centrelink office and speak to someone, with a glass panel between them, and present some evidence that they want to reduce the percentage on their card. Whilst it is a local level thing, for me it is a very important issue. We have to have confidence in this trial. If there are four or five people on a panel, it is intimidating to have to sit before them and outline your most basic need. That in and of itself does not seem to me to be appropriate.

Is it going to be a collaborative arrangement where an authorised officer works with that person? To have to front a panel and present some evidence to show that you should be entitled to a smaller percentage on your card is almost like begging. I appreciate that it is at the local level, but I think it is something that we have to get right; otherwise it just smacks of the appalling history we have, particularly in Western Australia, between the interface with white Australians and Aboriginal Australians.