Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

Before I respond to Senator Siewert's question, I also table the two supplementary explanatory memoranda relating to the amendments that I'm currently in the process of moving. Senator Siewert, I acknowledge your position on this measure and I respect your position on this measure. The reason the government has sought to move these two amendments, I would have thought was fairly obvious. We absolutely stand by the belief that the people of the Northern Territory, when given the choice as to whether to change the technology—and that really all it is, Senator Siewert, and I think you acknowledge it is nothing more than a change in the technology—will see the benefit. I can tell you from firsthand experience: I spent a number of days in the Northern Territory earlier this year and I went out to communities and I spoke to a lot of people who were on the BasicsCard. I sat with them and I explained to them the differences between the BasicsCard and the CDC, and almost without exception the people I was speaking to said, 'I would rather have the CDC than the BasicsCard.' This is not a debate about whether you have income management or not. It is merely a technology upgrade, and that is what this measure seeks to do, Senator Siewert.