Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to make a contribution to the Social Security (Administration) Amendment (Repeal of Cashless Debit Card and Other Measures) Bill 2022. Without a doubt, ending the cashless debit card will go down in history as the greatest piece of ideological madness that this government will perpetrate in this parliament. In fact, what we've just heard today is that at the last minute they will be rushing amendments through this place in relation to this bill.

One needs to ask why the government would do that, particularly when this was one of their election commitments. It was one of their election commitments, yet they are about to rush some amendments through this place. Perhaps the sheer weight of the evidence they were confronted with was so overwhelming that they finally realised this was an act of nothing more and nothing less than ideological madness. The previous speaker, Senator McCarthy, stated that the government was very clear in its objectives here—so clear that at the last minute we haven't even seen the amendments. We hear the minister saying: 'We got it wrong. It's not great that we got it wrong, seeing as we're out there telling everybody we got it right. We got it wrong, and we are going to have to make some changes.'

Perhaps, though, it's because they listened to the coalition. They listened to the weight of evidence that was presented to them. Perhaps now they better understand that this ideological madness that they were about to undertake would actually have made the lives of so many Australians much worse than their lives are today.

If the bill in its current form goes through, this is what the Albanese Labor government are going to be delivering to thousands and thousands of Australians. They will continue to see the scourge of alcoholism. They will continue to see the scourge of drug addiction, gambling and domestic violence in their communities, where—and this is what the weight of evidence shows—the cashless debit card has successfully contained these problems.

What kind of a government would want to inflict this sort of pain upon fellow Australians? The answer is clear: it is a heartless one, and it is a government that cannot see past its ideological bent on this issue. Given the weight of evidence, given that communities are crying out for this card, those opposite should hang their heads in shame on this issue.

Let's look at the purpose of the cashless debit card. It's a very simple purpose. It's to prevent income support recipients from spending a significant portion of their payments on potentially harmful goods, such as alcohol, illegal drugs and gambling. I am still at a loss to understand how the Albanese Labor government thinks, based on the sheer weight of overwhelming evidence, that this is a bad thing. The cashless debit card was introduced by the former government as a means to ensure that those receiving welfare payments were spending taxpayers money on basic necessities such as food, household bills and clothes, and not on habits that enable a destructive lifestyle.

When you look at and listen to the stories, when you understand the impact that this card has had on families, you see that it has allowed countless families on welfare across Australia to feed, clothe and provide for their children—I don't know why that is a bad thing—rather than to see their money be wasted on drugs, alcohol and gambling. In fact, listening to the weight of evidence, in many instances it has reduced domestic violence and it has reduced alcohol consumption, and when you reduce domestic violence and alcohol consumption you see the number of people presenting to the emergency department at a hospital also decreasing.

Let's look at some figures. As at last year, around $2.5 million worth of transactions on restricted products had been declined in the Goldfields. What does that mean? It means that $2.5 million was, therefore, better spent on food, paying bills, clothes and other essentials rather than on the alternative, which Labor and the Greens would like to allow, of pubs, bottle shops and the TAB. Look beyond the card's stated purpose and at examples of people in the communities who had the cashless debit card. What did they say? I remind the Senate that these are not people in Canberra. These are people who are on the cashless debit card who are living in communities, who have real life experience. They are real people who have realised the benefit of what the cashless debit card has offered them. For example, in Ceduna a community paramedic said, 'Since the cashless debit card, we've definitely seen a decline in domestic violence, alcohol consumption and the number of people presenting to ED at the hospital.' I am at a total loss to understand how that is a bad thing and why the Albanese Labor government wants to get rid of it.

What about community leaders in Laverton in my home state of Western Australia? They have pleaded with the government not to get rid of this card. What have they said? They have been forced to plead for an emergency contingent of police officers and paramedics because, as a result of the legislation that we have before us, they are anticipating a surge in violence when thousands of local residents are taken off the card. That is what this government is going to be responsible for.

In fact, Indigenous and non-Indigenous leaders in Laverton told the West Australian newspaper: 'The card has ensured children have been fed and clothed.' That's it. The card has ensured children—young children, who have no control over where this money is going unless they have the cashless debit card—have been fed and clothed. That, quite frankly, is something that all of us in this place take for granted every single day. They fear what is going to happen when this legislation goes through. The Laverton shire president, Patrick Hill, said the community 'had been brought to its knees by alcohol abuse in the years before the locals opted to support a trial of the cashless debit card'. He said:

We had the RFDS here constantly to pick up DV victims, kids were not being looked after and not going to school, (and) you know it's bad when the ambulance needs a police escort to go to incidents … We wanted to explain all that to the Government before they took the card away—

listen to this, Mr Acting Deputy President McGrath—

because it's the only think in 30 years that has made any difference.

Well, guess what? Today, because of the ideological hatred that those on the other side have for actually giving people a helping hand to survive, we say goodbye to the only thing that in 30 years has made any difference.

Janice Scott, a Wangkatha elder, established a residents group in Laverton in 2016 out of concern for the welfare of local children. Let's have a look at what she said: 'The biggest difference was for the kids. Suddenly they had food. They had clothing. People used to throw rocks on my roof in the middle of the night, saying "I'm hungry," and that stopped. They had food at home.' Shame on those opposite for demeaning Janice with this legislation.

Indigenous man Marty Sealander is chief executive of Laverton's Pakaanu Aboriginal Corporation. His organisation wanted to the card, and it had 'put things on an even keel in town'. He said: 'What you don't see anymore is the gambling, where people are sitting around playing cards with cash. That's finished. Families don't use the food program at the schools as much. They're buying groceries. And people with serious drinking problems are getting really drunk once a fortnight, not three or four times a fortnight like they used to.'

Then, of course, you have the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, which also backed the retention of the card. Again, they highlighted the benefits that they have seen because of this card. What they said is this: 'The program has demonstrated significant value in the community not only by linking participants to employment but also by providing opportunities for them to engage in training and skills development.' The city's submission to the relevant inquiry said there'd been a 57 per cent decrease in crime—wow! a 57 per cent decrease in crime—from 2018 to 2022, following the rollout of the card. The most significant crime decreases observed were in non-dwelling burglary, property damage, drug offences, dwelling burglary and the stealing of motor vehicles.

This is what they said: 'With the abolishment of the cashless debit card, there is no doubt that the region will need to rely more heavily on the state government to provide additional law-and-order services to ensure that the level of crime does not reach the unprecedented levels experienced three years prior to the introduction of the card.' Again, I am at an absolute loss to know why the Albanese Labor government thinks that abolishing the cashless debit card, even with its amendments, is a good thing, given the sheer and overwhelming weight of evidence that clearly supports the benefits that this card has had to some of the most vulnerable in our society.

Then, of course, there is my colleague Senator Nampijinpa Price. She is, as we know, an empowered Warlpiri Celtic Australian woman from the Northern Territory. In her maiden speech to the parliament, this is what she said in relation to the cashless debit card. It has:

… allowed countless families on welfare to feed their children rather than seeing the money claimed by kinship demand from alcoholics, substance abusers and gamblers in their own family group. I could not offer two more appalling examples of legislation pushed by left-wing elites and guaranteed to worsen the lives of Indigenous people.

What we are debating here today is a piece of legislation that an Indigenous woman from the Northern Territory who has lived and breathed these experiences says will, when it goes through, actually worsen the lives of Indigenous people in this country; she is very open in saying that. What does she then say? She says:

Yet at the same time we spend days and weeks each year recognising Aboriginal Australia in many ways—in symbolic gestures that fail to push the needle one micro-millimetre toward improving the lives of the most marginalised in any genuine way.

Well, guess what? I know whose view I back in relation to this: Senator Nampijinpa Price's. She is someone who will stand up for the rights of Indigenous people in this country—somebody who will only ever ask what practical difference this policy is going to make to the lives of Indigenous people in this country. She speaks from experience. She doesn't come in here as a left-wing elitist. She speaks from experience. She has seen the benefits firsthand, up close, in her own community. That's who the government should be listening to: people like Senator Nampijinpa Price.

The government should hang their heads in shame over this issue. It is ideological madness, nothing more and nothing less—despite Senator McCarthy saying it clearly is not. Quite frankly, the best thing you could do today is pull your legislation, go back out, listen to the community and then end this ideological madness.