Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I will not be supporting this either. As a matter of fact I have spent four or five days in Ceduna on a couple of different trips. I have heard all the positives. I have looked at all the help that Minister Tudge has put in there to make sure that the card makes it easy for people, so the help is sitting there. It was all aligned; it was all done well. I watched him, and, as soon as something came up, within 48 hours he fixed it. Everything has been thrown at this.

When I was over there, it was nice to see—I walked up and down the streets for two days. I walked into most shops. I talked to—did not matter what colour skin they were—if they were outside the courts or they were inside the courts, I went and spoke to them. I went out to the communities. They want this card. First of all they are finding that their kids are taking lunch to school. They are getting breakfast. The elders are not getting bashed because the younger people in the community are not trying to get money out of them because they do not have any. That is a good result in itself.

I can tell you that I feel really proud of myself as a taxpayer that I was feeding my son's ice habit, because that is where his social security benefit was going—to him and his mates! It makes me feel really proud that I was really a part of that! Every Australian is a part of that, because that is our tax and that is our money. I am not investing that money into the future of our kids, because that does not give our kids a future. That does not work. I watch my girlfriends that I grew up in public housing with, and their kids are not getting what they need and it is not just because they do not get much on welfare because their money is going elsewhere. I watch what comes into their households—and, I tell you what, organised crime is a very bad thing. The only people that are winning out of our taxpayers' money right now are those organised crime gangs out there.

You cannot tell me that somebody who is on welfare—that 20 per cent cash that goes into their proper bank account—has any more cash left over than 20 per cent. If you have, then you probably do not need to be on welfare. By the time you pay your rent with the little bit of welfare you get—there is your rent; you put food on the table for your kids; you are paying your electricity bill—then you should not have any more money than 20 per cent left over. You are getting 20 per cent of that in cash. You cannot tell me in 10 years time there will actually be cash around. Everybody will be on cards. That is where we are heading.

By feeding taxpayers' money into these people who already have issues what we are doing is feeding their habits, whether it is alcohol or drugs. It is absolutely disgusting. Fifty per cent of those on disability support pensions in Tasmania are on that because of drug and alcohol problems. And we are not doing anything about that. I absolutely commend Twiggy Forrest for what he has done. I have seen his 27 recommendations for creating parity, and I too—through the chair—like you, Senator Hanson, want that damn card rolled out to those kids under 18. I want it rolled out. I have seen kids out there. It was brought up in an ice committee last Friday—10 years of age and I said this and I have said it before: they are on ice pipes. What are mum and dad doing—that are on welfare? Where is the money coming from? You cannot tell me that kids that are under 18 years old should be spending that money on alcohol. They should not even be buying it. There is something terribly wrong.

We are not giving it to them as a gift. Welfare was never meant to be like that. Welfare is meant to help you when you are down and out. It is not meant to feed your habit. That is not on. And the sooner we get this card rolled out right across Australia for that first group, the better off we will be. That is the first generation we are going to start breaking. We are going to start breaking the cycle. Do you know how much heartache that is going to save families? Do you know how much money that is going to save the economy? Do you know how much that is going to lessen the impact on our public hospitals?

That is what it will do. But let me tell you what: I do not want to take responsibility for my taxpayers' money feeding somebody else's son's ice habit. That is not on. That is why I will not be supporting this.

It is time to change, and sitting here and talking about it, taking years to do it, is only making it worse. Like I said, the people who are really benefiting from this are the organised crime gangs out there, and they are having a nice time taking advantage of our kids. For goodness sake, the trials are working and are doing well. But I do not need to see a trial, because I spent long enough on a disability support pension, on welfare. I saw it when I lived in public housing; I grew up in the damn thing. I could already sniff and see what this card would do before it was even given out for trial. I thought: 'Beauty! This is something that's finally going to work; we just have to iron out the creases as we go.'

A trial was a good idea. But those trials are nearly over, so let's get on the front foot and keep the momentum going. Let's get it out for those kids who are 17 years and under, because they should not be buying drugs or spending taxpayers' money on alcohol. It is not on. They get 20 per cent in cash and they do not need any more than that. The other 80 per cent should be helping them out with buying clothes or whatever. Twenty per cent is more than enough, and I do not want the momentum stopped. The Greens like to talk about social justice, but social justice is not taking taxpayers' money and making the situation worse by giving it to people to go and buy their ice or drugs or alcohol with.

It is rampant out there. I live in Tasmania, one of the most disadvantaged places in Australia. It makes me cry every time I walk outside my office, which is right near Kmart and outside a taxi rank. Do you know what the taxi people say?. They feed in to me. I know it is getting worse. They know who the dealers are. They are taking people to pick them up. This is what is going on out there. This is an absolutely chronic issue, and we now need to take it on lock, stock and barrel. Twenty per cent is enough, and that is why I will not be supporting this.