Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise with such pride to follow amazing contributions from my colleagues Senator Janet Rice and Senator Dorinda Cox following the long years of former senator Rachel Siewert's opposition to this punitive, insulting and ineffective cashless debit card, which is what we have before us by another name.

The Greens have opposed this paternalistic and, frankly, racist policy ever since it was first introduced in this place as part of the Northern Territory intervention in 2007. As a Queensland senator, it first came to my particular attention when it was rolled out in Hervey Bay and Bundaberg as so-called trial sites and wreaked havoc on so many people's lives, people who were already on the bread line, people who, frankly, because they had so little money to live on, knew exactly how to use it to get by. People who don't have a lot of money are the best money managers that you will find. They have to be because they have no other choice.

I remember meeting with community organisations, including the Say No Seven, a really strong community based group that had formed to support each other to oppose this ridiculous and insulting cashless management approach to them and their lives. I stand in awe of their strength and determination. I'm sure they were celebrating when the pre-election commitment from the now government was made that they would get rid of compulsory income management and that it could be kept as a voluntary scheme: if people wanted to sign up to it, well, that would be up to individuals to choose to do that. I'm sure they were celebrating that. I'm sure so many communities that felt inappropriately controlled, dictated to by their government, welcomed that announcement.

I share their incredulity. But here we are with an instrument—and this is exactly why we are seeking to disallow it—that doesn't dispose of compulsory income management. It doesn't do what you said you were going to do. It actually just preserves this really bad policy and calls it a different name. Please don't do that! I'm sure you're across the evidence of how ineffective and punitive this policy was, and I've got a few really moving quotes from community members and experts that I'll share with the chamber in the course of my contribution, so perhaps if people are new to this debate they will realise that this is in fact really terrible policy.

But here we are again. I thought we'd killed this dreadful beast, and it's been thrown another lifeline by this government, who don't even have the courage to name it for what it is and instead are trying to say, 'Oh, it's just a technology improvement.' You can change the name and the colour of the card, but it's still the same policy. And that is absolutely heartbreaking. It's a betrayal of the pledge that you and your relevant minister made before the election.

Just to give a bit of a history recap, when the cashless debit card was first introduced it applied only to First Nations communities. It was effectively a racist policy. The coalition government, rather than fixing the racism underlying this terrible policy, decided to simply apply it to some white communities as well. So now it wasn't racist policy; it was just bad policy. And now many of those trial sites have been concluded, including the ones in Queensland, and I welcome that. But we still have compulsory income management in many First Nations communities, and the bill we passed earlier and this particular instrument doesn't stop that. So, we're back to just having plain old racist policy that is still bad policy.

I want to honour the words Senator Cox just shared. When we're talking about having a Voice, how dare you continue to have these policies that apply to First Nations communities and claim that it's to try to help people? You can't dictate what people can do with their meagre money and also claim that you're trying to help them. It doesn't work. The evidence is so clear. The cashless debit card doesn't give anyone a job. It doesn't give anyone financial management skills. Moreover, it fails to recognise that they already have financial management skills and, frankly, that they already have the right to decide what they can do with their own money.

That brings me to the point about poverty that Senator Rice spoke so eloquently about in her contribution. Rather than talking about controlling people and what they can do with their meagre amounts of money and where they can spend it and what this card is called and whether you've got to go to a separate special machine and hope the power hasn't gone down or that there hasn't been some other tech fault, so that you can actually pay for your meal, we should be talking about raising the rate of income support so that people aren't having to make these terrible decisions between paying the rent and buying an extra blanket for the bed. It's exactly why this cashless debit card is so ineffective—because the cash economy can be really helpful in making ends meet.

When I spoke to the community in Hervey Bay and Bundy, they said, 'Look, we go to the fruit and veggie markets, and they only take cash.' They certainly don't take what was then the Indue card, because they had to have some special machine. You had to stand in a separate line to use that special machine at some of the outlets that service it, so you already felt like a complete leper, for want of a better word. But often you couldn't use that card at second-hand clothing stores, at fruit and veggie markets, or at the uniform shop at the school to try to get a second-hand skirt or shirt for your kid at school. It was actually inhibiting people's ability to live on the meagre amount of income support that they were getting. It was making things worse. That was the evidence that we heard from the community time and time again. That's why this was such a bad policy and that's why everyone was so pleased when in opposition the Labor Party said they would get rid of this compulsory income management. And yet what we have before us is an instrument that will give the minister the power to roll out compulsory income management in new areas. It effectively allows the cashless debit card to apply nationally in a compulsory sense, despite the promises that were made before the election that that was the end of compulsory income management.

Now, if that was not your intent—good, but change the law so that future governments can't use the same instruments and that same bill that was passed to roll it out in a compulsory sense. We've got no confidence when these instruments are giving you the ability to continue to expand compulsory income management when you said you were going to get rid of it. It is a betrayal of the pledge that you made to people before the last election. I understand that there are more than 20,000 people that are still on compulsory income management. Many of those are in First Nations communities. Most of them are in the Northern Territory. I know there are people in this place that are really passionate about justice for First Nations communities in the territories, and that's what's particularly heartbreaking about this policy—it's the Labor Party thumbing its nose at those within their own ranks who care deeply about this issue.

I've talked about how this has institutionalised paternalism. I've talked about how it doesn't work, how it doesn't create jobs and how it doesn't give people skills to manage money or recognise that they already have those skills. I've talked about how it is incredibly discriminatory. Those are just the views that our party holds and that the community has shared with us, but I want to share with you some views of First Nations organisations and other academics who are also saying what we are saying. Firstly, APO NT, Aboriginal Peak Organisations Northern Territory, have said: 'APO NT reminds the government of our support for the repeal of the cashless debit card. We note that while this has allowed some participants to exit income management or voluntarily opt-in to income management, this is not the case for the majority of NT participants who remain on compulsory income management. Therefore, Aboriginal people in the NT have suffered the longest under this regime and this bill and the instrument does nothing to change this.' It continues: 'Despite the Albanese government's stated intentions of consultation or the stated long-term aim that income management is on a voluntary basis, it's important to view the practical and legislative effect. The bill'—and, of course, we're talking about the bill with which this instrument is associated—'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 statement that income management should only occur on a voluntary basis.'

In a similar vein, the Central Land Council said: 'Our full council recently met at Spotted Tiger. At this meeting our council reiterated that they do not support compulsory income management and they made the statement: 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 Northern Territory, 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.' It's pretty powerful stuff. Unfortunately, it seems to be falling on deaf ears.

The Arnhem Land Progress Aboriginal Corporation made similar remarks. They said:

Compulsory income management was imposed on ALPA's member communities in 2007 as part of the Northern Territory Emergency Response.

That's better known as the Intervention. They continued:

When it was forced upon our communities they were subjected to the discriminatory and false assumptions that they were alcoholics, family violence offenders and problem gamblers.

As the ALPA's chairman has stated: 'The wellbeing of Indigenous Australians depends on them having self-agency, choice and control over their lives. Hence, the ALPA board believes that, regardless of what design a future income management program takes, participation in the program must always be voluntary.' I'm sensing a bit of a common theme here. We thought the government had listened, but, sadly, the bill and the instrument before us indicate otherwise.

There were some really learned academics that contributed to this policy space. Professor Matthew Gray and Dr J. Robert Bray shared this:

The evaluation data does not provide evidence of income management having improved the outcomes that it was intending to have an impact upon. Indeed, rather than promoting independence and the building of skills and capabilities, New Income Management in the Northern Territory appears to have encouraged increasing dependence upon the welfare system, and the tools which were envisaged as providing them with the skills to manage have rather become instruments which relieve them of the burden of management.

Professor Elise Klein, who Senator Rice has already quoted from, is a well-known expert in this field. She said: 'The government and its agencies have never been able to show a credible evidence base to support compulsory income management. Indeed, the peer reviewed evidence base has continually shown that compulsory income management causes more harm than good. Regardless of peer reviewed research showing the harms associated with compulsory income management, the government continues to implement compulsory income management regimes based on ideology.' Economic Justice Australia said: 'The government has made commitments to ending compulsory income management in recognition that it is not effective. The government's intentions are irrelevant if the legislation it proposes permanently entrenches compulsory income management by another name. The absence of a sunset clause enables compulsory income management to continue indefinitely without any time frame for transitioning to alternatives.'

I don't have much time left, but I do want to share what the Northern Territory Council of Social Service said. They said: 'NTCOSS maintains its position, supported by an evaluation into income management, that compulsory income management is a failed policy that unfairly targets and negatively impacts Aboriginal people, and it has not delivered the intended outcomes. NTCOSS notes the intention of the Commonwealth to undertake extensive consultation with communities, First Nations leaders and other stakeholders on the long-term future of the regimes, but, as previously stated, NTCOSS supports calls from organisations, including the Tangentyere Council, that withdrawing compulsory income management must be a considered process, designed and informed by consultations with ACCHOs and community leaders. However, with extensive feedback and evidence from Aboriginal communities, leaders and organisations clearly and compellingly articulating that compulsory income management does not work, the need for consultation has to be addressed.'

The evidence is perfectly clear. This is precisely why this instrument must be disallowed, and I'm very proud that the Greens will continue to push for that.