Kerrynne Liddle (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister Representing the Minister for Social Services, Senator Farrell. When asked on 28 July 2022 if the government is intending to remove compulsory income management from the Northern Territory, you told the senate no. The instruments that give effect to the operation of compulsory income management via the BasicsCard are due to sunset this Friday. Can you confirm that the government will not let these instruments sunset this week and will extend the operation of compulsory income management?

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Liddle for that question and for her deep and sincere interest in this area of policy. When I answered that question on the last time it was raised, of course the answer I gave was the correct answer, and the—

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You were rolled.

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, we haven't been rolled. No, I don't get rolled. I'm simply making the observation that the statement I provided to the Senate on the last occasion that I was asked this question was the correct answer. I think the difficulty that the opposition is having with this whole cashless debit card issue is that there's a lack of understanding that, although you had this sort of policy that you were all committed to and you believed it was working and successful in the communities that you'd applied to, all of the evidence that has now come out—

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, could you resume your seat, please.

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On a point of order, I believe the senator on this side of the chamber was asking a very specific question around the extension of instruments that relate to income management in the Northern Territory. The minister seems to be referring to the cashless debit card, which is not the subject of the actual question. Do you think you could perhaps ask the minister if he could address the issue about the proposed extension of income management via the BasicsCard in the Northern Territory?

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Ruston. The minister is being directly relevant. He has responded to the question as it was asked. Please continue, Minister.

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I don't think I could've been more directly relevant or more directly answering the question that I was asked. I was asked a question about statements I'd made on a previous occasion in the Senate when I was asked similar questions, and I thought I answered that question as directly as it is possible to do, and I can't think of anything else I could have said.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, please resume your seat. Senator Birmingham.

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

President, there was one question here about whether these instruments would be extended. If Senator Farrell, who has now taken a minute and 56 seconds, is unable to provide that answer, he should commit to come back to the chamber, and do so promptly, given they expire and sunset this week.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Birmingham. The minister was also asked about a question he'd been asked previously, and he is being directly relevant.

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I was saying— (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Liddle, your first supplementary question?

Kerrynne Liddle (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

r LIDDLE () (): Can the minister confirm that the Albanese government has now done a backflip on your intention to repeal the cashless debit card by introducing amendments to extend its use in Cape York, the Northern Territory and, in a voluntary capacity, the four other CDC trial sites?

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Once again, I thank Senator Liddle for her question and her interest in this area. All of the places that you've just outlined are places where we are making changes to the operation of the cashless debit card. I think the first and fundamental point—and, again, I hate to lecture the opposition—is that the Labor Party took this policy to the last election. We went to the people of Australia and we said: 'We don't believe that this system of income management,' that you had established in an ideological fashion, 'is working, and we intend to change it.' And that's what we're doing. So, today and tomorrow, that's exactly what we're going to be doing in this chamber. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Liddle, your second supplementary?

Kerrynne Liddle (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Albanese government has announced $50 million for additional drug and alcohol treatment programs and the CDC trial sites. Does this announcement, along with the introduction of the new amendments, mean the government is finally acknowledging its policy to repeal the CDC will have serious social harm for the communities which rely on it for critical support?

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The answer is no, and I'll tell you why, Senator Liddle. In March 2020, your then government committed $49.9 million in additional funding to alcohol and other drug related treatments. So you committed the money, but what happened? How much of that $49.9 million was spent on dealing with alcohol issues in Indigenous communities?

Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Zero.

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, you're right, Senator Brown; the answer is zero. Not one single dollar of that money was spent. The new minister—and she's a terrific minister; I know her very well—Minister Rishworth, should be in the Senate because she is doing such a good job. (Time expired)