Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I really appreciate the questions we heard from Senator Pocock and Senator Lambie. They've been able to, I think, get to the very nub of the reason that we're here in this predicament. We're debating the abolition of the cashless debit card and the genesis of the fact that we're, right here, now talking about getting rid of a card that we know is helping communities, helping vulnerable people to make better choices with their money and to provide protection to the wider community, particularly the elderly and women in these communities. We hear, from so many of them, that talk about the impact.

What is the genesis? I think you've really hit the nail on the head with those questions about the lie that was spread in the lead-up to the campaign, that the coalition was going to put age pensioners and veterans onto the cashless debit card. That's why we're now in this position. If you're going to make a lie true, you've got to demonise the instrument that's being used to help communities. So you had to single out the cashless debit card, the instrument that's helping people. They were forced into a situation where, because you were demonising it—when journalists asked the question 'What are you going to do about it?' you said you would abolish it, without thinking about the impact it would have on the ground and in communities.

What we're now seeing, with these amendments, is that through the committee process—and credit to the government; they've listened through the committee process. They've recognised that the BasicsCard is a really old, redundant technology. It's a stored value card. It's not universal. You can't use it everywhere. There are fewer than 16,000 merchants who will let you use it, compared to the cashless debit card that has over 900,000 merchants or thereabouts who will let you use it. They've got themselves into this position because they had to make their lie true, and we know that you can't make a lie true by just telling more lies.

What they're not doing here—and what we're not hearing from Minister Farrell—is coming forward with the truth about what this new card is going to look like or how it's different. We know that the BasicsCard is an old redundant technology. You've acknowledged that. You're going to create this enhanced card. So I have some questions in relation to what this new card is going to look like. Minister, can you start by explaining to us the features of this new enhanced card, please?