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

There is a crisis unfolding in the Western Australian Goldfields towns of Leonora and Laverton, which the Albanese government is directly responsible for and, quite frankly, should be absolutely ashamed of. These towns are being ravaged by alcohol-fuelled violence and dysfunction as a direct result of government policy failure. By withdrawing the cashless debit card from these communities, the Albanese government has left women and children in grave danger. Shire of Laverton president Patrick Hill told me and the media this week:

The kids are not getting fed, the women get bashed up, and it's just going back to the way it was.

Mr Hill himself told me yesterday that some residents and visitors from other communities are 'lining up for opening time at the local bottle shop, buying bottles of spirits by the carton and drinking them like Coke'. They recently found 23 spirit bottles on a local oval after one session. After discussions with the police, the only pub in the town, the Desert Inn Hotel, voluntarily imposed alcohol restrictions this week to combat the public unrest in the town.

The disgraceful thing about all of this is that the Albanese government was warned by this community and those on the ground right there last year that this would be the result if they abolished the cashless debit card. Those on the ground in those communities begged the Albanese government, 'Please don't do it.' They told them this was the only thing that had made a real difference in the town. It meant the kids were being fed and women did not have to live in fear. But, as we know, the Albanese government didn't listen to them at the time, and they aren't listening now. This is a total abrogation of responsibility. The Albanese government should admit that abolishing the cashless debit card was wrong, restore it and stand up for these communities.