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

I thank Senator Brockman for the question. This week the cashless debit card bill was passed in the Senate, and I thank those senators who supported us and supported the passage of that important bill. The bill expands the trial sites to the Goldfields region in Western Australia and extends the existing two trial sites for another two years. The card has been trialled in Ceduna, in South Australia, since March 2016 and in the East Kimberley region, in Western Australia, since April 2016.

The trial was aimed at whether restricting the amount of cash in a community reduces the overall harm caused by welfare-fuelled alcohol, gambling and drug misuse at the individual and community level. It applied to all people on working-age income support payments, excluding age pensioners, who were able to volunteer. Evaluation of these trials showed that the card had 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. And this evaluation found widespread spillover benefits from the card, including 40 per cent being able to better look after their children and 45 per cent being able to better save money. There were also reports of increased purchases of baby items, food, clothes, shoes, toys and other goods for children.

Following the success of the initial trials and extensive consultation, the Turnbull government committed to expand the cashless debit card trial to include one more site. This is another example of the Turnbull government delivering on its commitments.