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

I'll try to answer all the components of Senator Hanson's questions and contribution, and I apologise if I miss some of them, but I'm more than happy to come back to them. Firstly, I acknowledge the second reading amendment of Senator Patrick, which gave us the opportunity to put on the record that the government has provided a commitment through the supporting of that second reading amendment that no recipient of the age pension or a veteran or services pension will be placed on the cashless debit card.

There are, however, a couple of exceptions to that, and I want to put that on the record very, very clearly. There are two main categories of exemption. People on the age pension are able to voluntarily seek to go on to the BasicsCard or the CDC. We know that around 2½ thousand people on the BasicsCard in the Northern Territory have gone on voluntarily, and, of the 2½ thousand people that are on voluntarily, over 800 are age pensioners. The second category of people who could be on income management who are of pension age or are on a pension card are those that have been referred by the Family Responsibilities Commission—and, for those who are listening and don't know what the Family Responsibilities Commission is, it is the group of commissioners in Cape York that make the decisions in relation to the people of that community, and it's also contained in this bill—or where child protection workers, social workers or the Alcohol Mandatory Treatment Tribunal in the Northern Territory has requested, on the basis of the safety of the individual or the safety of those in their care, that they go on to the card. There are very few people on the card for that reason. However, I just want to be very clear: those are the only two categories of people on the age pension that are subject to income management.

In relation to your comments on the information and the data, around what we are seeing as improvements as a result of the cashless debit card and income management, as I said, they are not silver bullet remedies for some of the problems that the cashless debit card and the BasicsCard were seeking to reduce. They are one component of a suite of measures that need to be put together to bring about the kind of change that the communities who have sought access to the cashless debit card have requested. From reading the letter of support that I received from the community leaders in Ceduna, there were many things that the community has observed over the time that the cashless debit card has been in place in that community.

Senator Hanson, I will read just a little bit of the letter I received. It says: 'Since the introduction of the cashless debit card, we have observed positive changes in our communities. Fewer vulnerable people have been harassed or humbugged'—those are their words—'to hand over cash to others. More children are attending school. Families have money to spend on groceries, and alcohol fuelled violence has decreased. Our communities are safer. People are saying they have the money they need to provide for the basics of life, such as buying clothes and food, and paying rent and bills.' Community leaders across the whole of Australia have signed this letter, which was sent to me today, from all of the trial sites around Australia. They say more, but the final sentence is: 'In order to create stronger, safer and healthier communities now and for generations to come, we call upon our parliamentary representatives to pass the Social Security (Administration) Amendment (Continuation of Cashless Welfare) Bill 2020.' Those are the words of the people at the coalface. They are the people whose communities this card serves.