Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

The government is moving to block this disallowance motion, because it would jeopardise the cashless debit card program in Ceduna and East Kimberley. Without this legislative instrument, thousands of people who are currently benefiting from the cashless debit card will have their current payments thrown into chaos.

The card has been shown to be helping the communities in Ceduna and East Kimberley fight gambling addiction, alcoholism and drug addiction. These communities want this card, and this disallowance motion would mean that the Senate would be ignoring the wishes of these communities. The government is committed to reducing the social harm caused by welfare-fuelled alcohol, drug abuse and gambling in areas with a high level of welfare dependency.

The debit card commenced in Ceduna, South Australia on 15 March 2016 and in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia on 26 April 2016. These sites were extended on 14 March 2017. The government announced in the 2017-18 budget that the card would be expanded to two new locations. The government announced the Goldfields region on 1 September 2017 and the Bundaberg and Hervey Bay region on 21 September 2017.

On 1 September 2017, the government released the independent Cashless debit card trial evaluation,Final evaluation report that assessed the impact of the introduction of the card in Ceduna and East Kimberley. The recently published independent evaluation states the card has shown considerable positive impact in communities, including 48 per cent of drug takers using fewer drugs, 41 per cent of drinkers drinking less and 48 per cent of gamblers gambling less.

While there have been up-front costs, the actual running costs of the card are a fraction of this. It is expected those costs will continue to reduce over time. Income management currently supports 25,044 vulnerable Australians. Over 21,000 of these people live in the Northern Territory and 82 per cent are Indigenous. Extending income management allows the government to continue supporting recipients while also testing approaches for the delivery of restricted welfare payments going forward. The extension will include streamlined servicing changes to reduce administrative costs. The Department of Social Services has undertaken extensive consultation across all four sites engaging a range of stakeholders, including local businesses, community organisations, service providers, state and local governments, community leaders and the general public.

While the government appreciates the support provided by the opposition on the continuation of Ceduna and East Kimberley, we call on them to support the expansion of the card to the communities that are asking for it. As they know, we will see the best results from communities that want to participate, but more sites will mean that we can get a better evaluation for the card and its successors.

There is a large amount of community support for the debit card to be given to communities in the Goldfields in Western Australia and in Hervey Bay in Queensland—just ask the member for O'Connor and the member for Hinkler about what their communities are telling them. As the five shires in the Goldfields told the Prime Minister, they want to see how the card can improve their communities. As the community in Hinkler has told their representative, over 75 per cent of the community want to see how the card can help them. The government will be moving to block this disallowance motion.