Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in very strong support of my colleague's disallowance motion this evening. I think most of us who have spent some time in this chamber will remember that, under the previous government, when Labor campaigned to abolish the cashless debit card last year in this very place we passed a bill to do exactly that. What the Labor government did not make such a fuss over was that the cashless debit card would remain in the Northern Territory and it was simply going to be rebranded and reintroduced as what essentially is the cashless debit card known by another name, and that new name is the SmartCard. The SmartCard will be reintroduced under the same guise of what the cashless debit card did. It's just a different name. It's just a different colour. It's like getting a Christmas present at Christmas time and just re-gifting it, wrapping it up in something different and giving the same gift to people, because that's exactly what this Labor government are doing to black people in the Northern Territory, as Senator Rice has already stated.

This government absolutely want you to believe that they're simply improving the technology, but this is far from the case. It's sneaky. It is downright dangerous that this framework will actually expand the minister's power to roll out compulsory income management yet again into our First Nations communities in new areas in the Territory. And it's not just in the Northern Territory but also in other areas right across this country. It is operation by stealth. It is dishonesty by this Labor government, who made promises. They pledged to voters during the election period. They campaigned to abolish the cashless debit card. Shame on you that you would do that and mislead our people to believe in that. Obviously it doesn't count as fulfilling an election promise when you're just reintroducing it under another name. It's what you call 'different' and 'upgrading of technology'.

This regulation that we are moving to disallow today seeks to establish an actual framework for the SmartCard, and it includes a bank account, terms and conditions and blocked entities. So this regulation feeds into the Social Security (Administration) Amendment (Income Management Reform) Bill 2023, which we expect to come to this place in due course. Rest assured that I and Senator Rice, the community affairs committee chair, and the other Greens who sit here in this block will be fighting this bill to make sure people understand that it was the opposition—the coalition—that dug the graves and it's these fellas who are just loading up the bodies and lowering them in. That's what's happening in this country right now to people in the Northern Territory, and it's a disaster. Last night we saw a budget handed down that left some of the most vulnerable people behind. Senator Ayres wants to talk about housing in the Northern Territory and other places and people being left behind. I don't know if he's visited any of the tin shacks in the Northern Territory and other places in northern Australia. In my home state of Western Australia, remote housing is not even up to scratch, so maybe they could start there.

Failure to end compulsory income management is another disappointing move by a so-called progressive government. We hoped for much more when this government came into power, but we were deeply disappointed. Under Labor, 20,000 people are still going to be trapped under the compulsory income management system. We need a voluntary system that genuinely supports people. How hard is it for people to understand that it is support that people need, not restriction and not compulsory management. They're all your words. The principle of self-determination is what is important here. The current Minister for Indigenous Australians stated, as Senator Rice already said, 'Our fundamental principle on the BasicsCard and the cashless debit card is to be on a voluntary basis.' What happened to that? Did it disappear into thin air all of a sudden because we got a bit of pressure? We copped a bit of media flak from the right-wing and from those sitting opposite. The minister said, 'If people want to be on those sorts of income management, it's their decision. It's not up to Labor or anyone else to tell them what to do.' At the moment it's compulsion. That's not Labor's position. That's a pretty big swing. That's a pretty big shift, Labor, that you would now change your minds and put this back in train and put it back in a regulation in a way that is going to harm people. So the opposition and the government team up and pull a swiftie.

While they were in opposition, this government also said 'voluntary basis', and it's something that we over here on the Greens, as Senator Ayres has already pointed out, absolutely support. We welcome a bill that will actually make it voluntary and provide that right across this country on a voluntary basis. We would gladly pass a bill that makes income management voluntary when it is consistent with both the rights and the needs of people on this card, especially First Nations people.

Understand how disproportionately this affects First Nations people in this country. People like Senator O'Sullivan want to talk about being in the Goldfileds and what is happening there. People will disproportionately be affected because we are the welfare recipients. It's the gift that keeps giving in this country to my people. It's the legacy of colonialism in this country that keeps giving, keeps restricting, keeps stripping away rights of First Nations people in this country.

Advocacy groups have been crying out for years. My predecessor, Rachel Siewert, former senator for Western Australia, worked on this for many years here in this chamber, particularly around the Northern Territory Intervention. We have heard all the stories swirling about how when compulsory income management comes in it will solve the crime rate. It will solve all the issues. It will solve the black problem of this nation. It will not.

I can honestly say there are many reports, many inquiries, that have talked about the impacts of compulsory income management, both in this place and in other parliaments across the country. Advocacy groups, charities and policy think tanks have all sat around having the talk-fest that people love to have about this. But when First Nations groups invite governments to sit in the dirt and tell them income management will be harmful, will disproportionately affect our people, they all of a sudden become deaf.

So I will remind the government of the 2018 report from the National Audit Office that found a five-year trial on the cashless debit trial cost the government $170 million, and there was absolutely no evidence provided in that report that the cashless debit card worked. In short, compulsory income management is a bad policy, one of the worst. It is unnecessarily restrictive. It prevents people from buying things they need. The amount of cash that can be withdrawn is still limited. People don't get enough money to get these payments in the first place.

We have heard about the dismal amount that people are getting out of last night's budget but, on top of that, they can't buy items at garage sales, they can't go to op-shops, they can't go on Facebook's marketplace and they can't go to food markets, which all generally sell cheaper products and produce that help people to manage their finances. It's what these programs are supposed to be doing. They're supposed to be helping people. We don't build a system that impacts on people's quality of life and say, 'Uh-oh, well, we're done,' and walk away but this is what is happening when we continue to pursue this pipe dream of compulsory income management, particularly in First Nations communities.

The APO NT said:

The bill continues the trend of making income management, and in particular compulsory income management, a permanent feature of social services in Australia, without adequate consultation. The legislative effect of the Bill is the opposite of the Albanese Government's pre-election statements that the income management should only occur on a voluntary basis.

This is what advocacy groups say.

Central Land Council has come into opposition, saying:

How many times do we have to say it until the government listens to our voices? Since Income Management was introduced in 2007 as part of the Commonwealth Government's Intervention in the NT we have said no. A different card, a different colour—it's all for the same purpose: to control our lives. We are not guinea pigs. The CLC calls on the government to end all forms of compulsory income management now.

I could stand here all day and read the endless quotes that I have printed out in front of me from individuals and organisations that clearly state why income management is a bad policy. But, for the sake of the chamber, I am going to leave it there and urge members of this place, on both sides of the chamber, who support compulsory income management to read the submissions that have been provided as part of this inquiry that clearly outline and articulate very well the specific harm that will come from compulsory income management and that has already occurred in some of these communities.

It really puzzles me as I stand here tonight in this chamber and begs the question that, in the year of the Voice, why this Labor government is not only walking back its election promises and has done a complete backflip on its position from opposition but also ignoring the clear voices of strong First Nations people who don't want compulsory income management in their communities. It's shameful. You cannot say you're giving the right to self-determination and a voice to parliament to people and, with your other hand, take it away from them. But that's exactly what's happening.

Compulsory income management doesn't help people manage their finances better. In fact, it punishes them for being on welfare payments, pushing them further away from financial freedom. We know that compulsory income management becomes this glossy document that gets wheeled out with social media clips about racist stereotypes, dog-whistling to the racists in this country who want to perpetuate and continue those stereotypes against First Nations people. People need support. They need support to live a dignified life in this country.

Compulsory income management fails to actually address the underlying issue of poverty. That's especially true for people who are living in remote Australia. I urge this Labor government to start listening to the voices of those key First Nations organisations that have called for an end to compulsory income management and to work with those communities to provide housing. There's a start. You want to talk about housing? Start there. Let's have education, employment and other much-needed community based and culturally appropriate programs and services that help to address the issues that are happening in First Nations communities across this country. How about looking at intergenerational poverty, because some people are not just poor in their pockets but poor in their minds? The healing of trauma and the unacceptable rate of mental health and suicide in our communities—how about you start there first instead of continuing down this line of compulsory income management?