Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Pensioners have a right to control how they spend their own money without the government and a private company controlling where they can shop and what they can buy, so I'm proud to introduce this bill protecting pensioners from the cashless debit card. It implements Labor's policy to scrap the government's cruel scheme, liberating thousands of Australians, including disability pensioners, carers and others already on this card, and protecting all pensioners from being forced onto the card. Eighty per cent of a person's payment is put on this privatised card and a private company, Indue, controls when, where and how people can spend their own money. This card is dehumanising, degrading and results in horrible situations. One woman was forced to beg Indue for permission to buy a bra that fitted her from a shop that wasn't on the approved list. She was forced to send in photos. This bill stops this government's privatisation of social security dead in its tracks.

The Morrison government has already wasted over $70 million dollars on this private company, Indue. That's $5,200 per card, more than many part-pensioners get in an entire year. This has been a cash bonanza for Indue, yet the government wants to expand it. I challenge the government to stop misleading people and set the record straight about their plans. If they really don't want a national rollout, then they will vote for this bill. They can't be trusted. They said the card was just a trial, but then the minister introduced legislation to make the card permanent before she'd even received the independent review, giving away their real game. As usual, the government is now literally pretending that they haven't said the things that came out of their own mouths. The Prime Minister forgets that TV cameras actually record things. The headline on Sky News clearly said that the Prime Minister 'is eyeing a national rollout of the cashless debit card'. The minister has said:

We are seeking to put all income management onto the universal platform which is the cashless debit card.

Last year the government introduced legislation into this parliament to give the minister the power to force all age pensioners onto the card. Australians are not stupid. Ask yourself: why would you introduce legislation to force pensioners onto the card if that's not what you wanted to do? There are already pensioners who've been forced onto the card. The Prime Minister said numerous times that he considers 'The pension is a welfare payment for those who really, really need it.'

He's not alone. His close mates Senator Pauline Hanson and Clive Palmer agree. Senator Hanson said welfare recipients have 'lost their right' to decide how to spend their money. If the Prime Minister wins the next election, pensioners will be forced onto this card and they won't have enough cash to buy cheap food from the local fresh food market or second-hand goods off the internet or meals at the RSLs and local service clubs. It'll hurt small businesses and farmers' markets. They won't have enough cash to give to the grandkids. These are the stories we've heard from people already on the card. The 7.30 Report spoke to a single mum who was forced onto the card who didn't have enough gold coins to make the donation to get into the school fete.

The bill also deals with the government's addiction to secrecy. It will force the minister to come clean, to release the secret contract with the private company Indue. It is the only social services contract that the government has not released. The rest are on their website, but this one is secret. The Senate demanded last week that the minister table the contract on Friday, and she is still refusing. It will also force the minister to release the secret documents about their plans to expand the scheme. I've tried to get them through freedom of information laws, and the government refuses. They said, two weeks ago, 'Well, there are simply too many documents to process.'

Australians deserve to know what this secret technology working group is actually doing. It's chaired by a government senator; it includes the big banks, Australia Post and the supermarkets; and it's trying to work out product-level blocking. That is code for a private company, Indue, being able to control what brands and what sizes of goods in what shops people can buy with their own money. The minister has admitted—again, on the record, on the television—"

The reason we haven't done it in the major cities is because we need to deal with the technology issue, which we are now close to resolving.

This bill is sensible—it's not radical—and provides for transition. It forces the minister to prepare a jobs and services plan for each affected community by the end of January when the card ends.

Finally, the question is: will this bill pass? I believe it will pass if the government allows a vote. Some Liberal MPs don't support the scheme. The member for Bass spoke powerfully in this chamber against the bill to expand the trials but was bullied by the Prime Minister into voting for it. Liberal MPs always say one thing in their electorates and do another thing here in Canberra. The member for Bass and others who privately don't like the card need to put their money where their mouth is and cross the floor to allow a vote. If the government is not stopped, the consequences are horrendous—millions of Australians will be forced onto this privatised scheme, expanding the suffering and indignity.

If the bill doesn't pass before the elections, then we know the government's intentions are clear and the battlelines are drawn. Liberals want to expand their scheme, but a Labor government will fight privatisation and protect pensioners by scrapping this nasty, cruel cashless pension card scheme, once and for all. I invite the member for Richmond to make some remarks in seconding the bill.

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