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

Senator Hanson, the most important component of the cashless debit card trial sites has been the commitment and the participation of the community leaders within those communities. We constantly receive advice and feedback from those community leaders. It is the reason that we are seeking to continue the trial sites for the cashless debit card, because it is those people who are talking to us and telling us their stories that drive this.

I was in Ceduna on the weekend with Senator Patrick. I suppose it was interesting. Senator Patrick said to The Advertiser, 'Ceduna probably kicked me from a no to a position where I'm considering voting for it.' That was how powerful seeing the people at the coalface and hearing firsthand their pleas on behalf of their community about the continuation of the card was. I know that this is a difficult subject for some in this chamber, and I certainly acknowledge that, but the thing that struck me the most was going out to a community not far out of Ceduna called Koonibba. Koonibba is a reasonably small community. There would be fewer than 200 people living in Koonibba. But just a few weeks ago Southern Launch, which is a big satellite organisation in South Australia, picked the Koonibba lands as the place for their launch. The community told me how fantastic it was for the people of Koonibba to have the opportunity to work with and for Southern Launch to assist them in their launch activities. They subsequently asked me—