Kerrynne Liddle (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Child Protection and the Prevention of Family Violence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, the chaos was immediate when the Albanese government did nothing to stop the alcohol restrictions from being lifted in the Northern Territory in 2022. There was no social impact assessment, no transition plan, just a process that said, 'Here's $300 million to clean up. How do you want to spend it?' They did the same when Labor took away the cashless debit card. Labor and the Greens removed the cashless debit card, and the impact was immediate.

Think back to the audacity of the Prime Minister—to spend less than 24 hours in Alice Springs, on a Monday, when take-away alcohol is not sold, and tell Australians: 'It's okay'! Well, you didn't fool a single local. And it's not okay.

There was more disregard, too, when Minister Rishworth took a 38-minute flight—a RAAF flight—home from Ceduna in October 2022 at a five-figure cost to taxpayers. She couldn't get out of there fast enough. Forty Ceduna businesses directly pleading with her for help instead got radio silence. So much for listening to locals.

From Ceduna to Kalgoorlie, to the Kimberley and into Alice Springs, this Albanese government has left people hurt, harmed and hungry. Now, imagine what is going to occur when Minister Rishworth ends income management for the 29,000 people currently receiving those payments in the Northern Territory. Labor talk so much with their friends the Australian Greens about learning from history, but not on this, no; no way.

In the Northern Territory, alcohol consumption per capita is around twice the national average. Three thousand five hundred Territorians right now are on the Banned Drinker Register. They're on it—dead giveaway—because they're problem drinkers who cause problems. On the Banned Drinker Register, guess what? You can still buy grog at a licensed premises—you can go in and drink there—but the ban prohibits you from purchasing takeaway.

We know alcohol is a driver for violence. Domestic and family violence in the Territory is up 20 per cent, year on year. Even police from my home state of South Australia had to go in when there was a call for help, let alone the several curfews. What a place to live! Sadly, for locals, that's what they live with. Then factor in the NT's gambling problem, which has an estimated cost of $400 million a year.

A Labor-dominated Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights inquiry into compulsory income management did not include a single MP from the NT. Why aren't we hearing from the three Labor MPs from the Northern Territory whose job it is to represent Territorians? Labor had the cheek to stand in this chamber earlier today talking about the need to listen to local voices; yet, after two public hearings in Canberra, and 30 submissions, mostly from the who's who of the Aboriginal service industry, they are still going ahead with this madness. Meanwhile, the Albanese government commits more taxpayers' money to closing the gap and ending disadvantage, while, at the same time, deploying policy responses for further welfare dependence, at far greater social, human and economic cost.

Compulsory income management began as a direct outcome of the 2007 Board of Inquiry into the Protection of Aboriginal Children from Sexual Abuse and its report, Little children are sacred. It had two primary aims: to stem the flow of cash expended on substance abuse and gambling, and to ensure funds provided for welfare protected the welfare of children because the money was spent on essential items. Well, a coalition government will reinstate the cashless debit card in communities that want it because it makes people safer. We will actively audit organisations in the Aboriginal service industry and be focused on outcomes, not outputs—actions that will help to protect the most vulnerable and do no further harm.

In considering the 'senseless, shocking and preventable deaths' in the Northern Territory, Coroner Elizabeth Armitage concluded that responses were 'too narrow, too piecemeal, too small, too ineffective' and also culturally unfit. The time for urgent action is now. It's too late for those victims. History shows that you can make it much worse. Labor made it much worse.