Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I assume we're winding up, as there's no-one else here. I welcome the support of the Greens in relation to the disallowance of the expansion of this welfare card. We have on many occasions now in this place indicated that we want a proper analysis done in the existing sites. We have a different view about the trial, Senator Siewert. In our view, while the trial has to be changed and done properly with a proper assessment, the exact same issues don't apply. I don't accept that we should abandon the trial when so many people have told us it's not a bad proposition. Others are opposed, as I've indicated before. We are thankful for your support just now. We take the view that there should be no extension while the problems we identified in our speeches on the last disallowance continue—that is, there has been no proper consultation process and the assessment that has been done is not appropriate. All in all, we need to ensure that what has been happening now doesn't go any further.

No-one disputes the depth of your passion in relation to this issue, Senator Siewert. We have a similar determination to ensure the trials are done properly and are given that extra 12 months. If they're not done properly then it might be a different ball game. The way things are going, there will probably be a different government in 12 months time, and then we can assess this from our own perspective in government and make sure the trials are done properly with a proper analysis of the issues you've continually raised here. As I said, no-one would dispute your passion and your commitment to this issue, but we have a slightly different point of view as to the existing process. We don't believe the existing process is good, but we want to give it that 12-month period to make sure that we, in government, can deal with this in a properly analysed way and make sure that we've got a process in place.

I just don't get the argument that the coalition puts up time and time again that, 'The best form of welfare is a job.' This is a nonsense argument. This argument that you have to get a job is part of the process, in my view, to push people off social security payments. For many of these areas, there are no jobs available: that's the reality. And, when this government, in its 2014 budget, cut funding for Indigenous support and a whole raft of areas, all that did was make this problem worse.

This government is not renowned for its capacity to act strategically, and this is another example where the strategy is not in place to deal with this properly because they are an incompetent government. They're a government on their last legs. They're a government that is so totally consumed by their own internal problems and the ideology and the personal hatred that flow from one group to another that trying to deal with this issue under this government will never be a satisfactory option because they've got their eye off the ball in not just this area but a whole range of areas right across government. That's why I continually say that they are nothing but a rabble of a government. The sooner they actually go to an election and deal with the issues of importance to Australians the better.

I take the view that denying this incompetent government access to impose their ideological views and their flawed processes on another group of citizens is the proper thing to do. We have consulted with the existing areas in relation to their acceptance or denial. As I've said on a number of occasions, there is a mixed view. We want the extra 12-month trial, but we don't want it to go anywhere else because you cannot trust this government. Even their own backbenchers don't trust the cabinet. The ministry don't trust the cabinet. The cabinet don't trust the ministry. The cabinet don't trust the backbench. They are in all sorts of trouble, and the quicker we get to an election where we can deal with this in a proper, analytical way with a proper strategy in place the better.