Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

The cashless debit card was put on trial in the Kimberley and Ceduna. It is not just for the Aboriginal community. It is available to everyone, regardless of their cultural background. For many years now governments have been accused because nothing has changed. We'll look at welfare dependency. It is a big problem in Australia. We have three and even four generations on welfare. The dependency needs to change and we need to address it and we need to ask the question of why.

The cashless debit card was first brought to my attention just over a year ago. I was invited to join some community leaders from Ceduna and the Kimberley to discuss the cashless debit card. These people were Aboriginal and they were elders. I sat down and discussed with them what they thought about the card. Surprisingly, they were very supportive of it. They told me it did have a big impact on their communities. They saw a reduction in crime, they saw children going to school and they believed there was a reduction in domestic violence. They spoke highly of the card and fully supported it.

I have heard arguments from both sides, from the Labor Party and the Greens, with regard to the card. Issues have been raise that you're taking away their human rights and that the card is not working. Well, I say to the senators and anyone else, 'What's your answer to this?' What is happening in these places and in Kalgoorlie—I've sat down and had a meeting with the council there—on the streets is totally out of control. Do you really care about these people's lives and the lives of future generations? There are young kids out there, as young as three and four, who are in the parks and not being looked after by their parents, because there is an alcohol problem and a drug problem. Why? Because the parents have cash in their pockets to go out and buy the alcohol and buy the drugs.

We really need to take a good look at this if we really want to deal with this issue. It's about looking at the facts and how we're going to change it and make a difference. I've spoken to the community leaders there, I've spoken to the Aboriginal elders and I have listened to their concerns. Yes, it was raised that they believe there wasn't enough consultation. That may be the case, but, at the end of the day, we must look at the results. Has anything been achieved from this?

I have heard arguments about the colour of the card. So you don't like that? People in the community may see that you're using the card and, therefore, you think you're going to be looked down upon by them? Most people in these areas know who is out working and who is on welfare. I think that's a pathetic argument: you're worried that people might think that you're on a welfare payment. Being on social security or welfare payments in this country is not a right; it is a privilege, because the Australian taxpayers are paying for it. We are one of the very few countries in the world that has such a generous welfare payment. If we do not start calling for accountability, we will not have the moneys to provide for those in need in times to come—whether they be the aged, the sick or the young. There has to be responsibility.

The money is divided up; you still get the same money. Eighty per cent of the money is put on your card, and you get 20 per cent in cash to spend where you wish. That can be negotiated under certain circumstances, if you let the department know and explain to them the reasons why. That can be sorted out. But, at the end of the day, it's about these people being responsible. I know for a fact that the culture of Indigenous people is that they have friends and family coming to them asking for, and even demanding, money from them. Although it's going to make it tougher for their own families and households to pay their bills, they hand over the money. The card is going to stop that, because they won't have the money to hand over to them.

It is a fact that Minderoo conducted research into the card and its benefits. It has shown that it is having a low to high 40 per cent impact on less drinking, less gambling and less domestic violence. This is happening because people don't have access to alcohol and drugs. When you sit there and listen to the community leaders and those with businesses in the town of Kalgoorlie—I went there and sat and listened to them during the Senate inquiry—they say: 'Well, something has to be done about it. Come up with the answers for it. If it's not the card, what is the answer? Because we're just about finished here.' Their businesses are going under. They're going to lose tourism in the town because people won't want to go there.

You talk about how we should provide more services. In discussions with the council, they said to me that there are between—I have heard different numbers, but I suppose you can look at that—150 and 170 different services that are available in the town. More taxpayers' dollars are being poured into this whole system to provide the services that are inadequate and where there is duplication. It's costing the taxpayer a lot of money. What it has come down to is that those services are only available between nine and five. When you have a lot of the problems, who do they fall to? It is the police and the council in the township who are having to pick up the pieces. When a lot of the Aboriginals come into town and get on the drink, they end up drunk on the streets and then end up in the cells because there's nowhere else for them to go or they can't get transport back to their own communities so they're stuck in town.

I don't believe that how we deal with the real problems there has been well thought out. I don't live there, so it is only speculation on my behalf. But I think the taxpayer services, whether they be not-for-profit organisations or government departments or whatever, need to work together to find the answers to this. It is throwing the baby out with the bathwater, when you talk about getting rid of the cashless debit card because you want to talk about people's rights. You want your rights, but with rights come responsibilities and obligations. That community needs to be heard.

Senator Lines said that they have a right to shape and mould their own future. Clearly, that is not the case, because over the years that has not been happening. Billions of dollars have been poured into, as I said in my maiden speech in 1996, the Aboriginal industry that is happening in this country. Money has been wasted. There is no accountability. They say that they don't have enough housing. I know that housing costs Australian taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars, and it's not being well respected or looked after. I have been approached constantly by Indigenous people, whether they be elders or just the average person on the street out there, who are saying that there is not enough accountability. They say, 'We are supposed to get the money but it doesn't get down to us.' I believe there is corruption happening and I believe that money is not getting to where it needs to get to. People are abusing the whole system at the expense of the taxpayer.

If you have an argument about this, fair enough, but don't disregard the cashless debit card. Support it for what it is and what it is achieving in these areas. The children are now starting to go to school. Isn't that what we all want? Don't we want to see the kids go to school? Don't we want to see them have a decent feed? Or are you quite happy to say that if they go to school the taxpayers have to pick that up and give them food? Isn't it a responsibility? Because they're Aboriginal, do we treat people differently? You shouldn't be doing that. You talk about racism in this country. That's reverse racism. There is racism, but it's reverse racism. It is about time people in this nation stand up and be responsible for themselves and their own actions. You can't keep passing the buck and saying that we're going to justify this because of their cultural background. That's not the way to go with this.

I know a lot of people out there who need a helping hand and don't get it, purely because of their cultural background. I think it's wrong. Listen to the elders and listen to the people in the community out there who are saying, 'It is working. It is benefiting them. It is helping.' Don't use it on a racial basis, because it's affecting Aboriginal people. The ones out there have the attitude, 'You're not going to tell us what to do.' That has to change in this nation if we are all going to join together as one people. We are one people. We are all Australians. I'm sick and tired of seeing the division that is actually happening between us, whether it be Australia Day or Anzac Day or whatever. We have to start working together and get rid of the divide that's happening.

The cashless debit card is beneficial and it is working. But those on the opposite side here, the Labor Party, are not going to support it. You're not listening to what the people want. You're not even prepared to give it a go. This is a trial period. It is working in these areas. Listen to the people. Let the trial period continue. You want to extend the trial period. I don't agree in any way whatsoever with your amendments to the bill. You want to reduce the trial from three areas to two areas, you want to extend the trial period to 2019, and you say that specific social support services must be able to adequately provide for the care, protection, welfare and safety of adults, children and families in the trial areas. They've got that. I just said to you that they have those—160 or 170. How many more do you need to put in at the cost of the taxpayer? If you're really concerned about it, why don't you chase up these departments and ask them why they are not providing the services they're supposed to be providing. Why go out there and spend more taxpayers' dollars? There has not been enough accountability. No-one has gone out there to really investigate where taxpayers' dollars are going and if there is enough accountability. So don't start asking for more services to be provided.

After speaking to the leaders, the councils, Indigenous people, the mayors and others, I do support the cashless debit card. Yes, a few are objecting to it, because they believe their rights are taken. But, as I said, it is not their right to get taxpayers' dollars; it is a privilege, at a cost to the taxpayer. I believe that everyone should contribute to this. If it is benefiting the community, don't throw it out.