Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

As the member for Bass leaves, I want her to take with her the feeling in this chamber as we listened to that incredibly measured, considered, informed speech on the Social Security (Administration) Amendment (Continuation of Cashless Welfare) Bill 2020. We're all standing here, one after the other today, as we have done repeatedly, speaking about the cashless debit card in various forms of legislation across the last few years as it has gone from a supposed trial, where communities have been consulted and have agreed to be part of it, to something much, much more draconian. And we are always individually trying to capture, I think it's fair to say, what the member for Bass just captured so beautifully.

Like the member for Bass, I have been a recipient of the support systems in this country. As a single mother with three children who worked part-time for a period of six years, I was a single mother in receipt of support from the Commonwealth. I completely understand the comments that she made about the shame, about the stigma, about how it feels to stand in a Centrelink queue and about how it feels to have people look at you as if you are somehow or other different than others. I would put on the record something that I think sums up that feeling. I think it's legitimate here, although we have to contextualise that. We live in a large country, and we southerners have not had a cashless debit card placed on us.

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