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

Some of us in this chamber have got thick skin and others don't. But, anyway, that comes with age and wisdom and knowledge. The fact is that what I am saying here is it's very important that we deal with this motion and that we deal with the cashless debit card in the chamber. It is going to impact on a lot of people, so I am calling on the senators here: you may have your disagreements with us and say that it's against human rights, which the Greens have said all along, and that we're denying people their rights, but the people are on this welfare payment purely because of the grace of the taxpayers of this nation, who have given them the ability to actually access money. We, as people, must also understand that a lot of people are tied up on drug addiction, alcohol and gambling. That is a big problem here as well. If it is helping these people, if it is saving just a few lives in these communities, surely that's got to be taken into consideration.

I know the Labor Party are not going to support this, because that's their voter base: 'How dare you deny the people control of how their money is spent?' We talk in this chamber about the sexual abuse of children. That comes from people who are inebriated—it may be alcohol; it may be drugs. We actually see the decline in domestic violence. Why aren't you prepared to actually say that if it leads to this—spending the money where they do spend it wrongly—that is impacting on their daily lives? Why can't you make the decisions based on what is right for these communities? The people have been crying out for it. When you have meetings with these people, they are crying out for it. These communities came to the government and put their own hands up for it. They wanted this card. If you don't pass this with the cashless debit card, it's going to go back to the BasicsCard up in the cape, so this is very important. At least give them a further trial.