Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party, Shadow Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to the Social Security (Administration) Amendment (Income Management Reform) Bill 2023. It is a bill that I feel very passionately about, and, while we are supporting the legislation to go to the SmartCard, I want to use this opportunity to again speak about my immense disappointment with the government's abolishment of the cashless welfare card, and the reasons why I am so upset for the communities affected. I'm especially upset for the women and the children in those communities where the cashless debit guide has been abolished.

Let's do a quick recap. What was the cashless welfare card? Trials were run across four communities, three of them very remote communities, where, when you look at the statistics, there was great dysfunctionality. There was a very high crime rate and very high incidences of people with alcohol problems and/or gambling problems. When you looked at presentations to hospitals and when you looked at school attendance, those communities were suffering. What was brought in as a trial was to say, okay, we have a few communities here under great duress and great stress. The most vulnerable people in those communities were children. In some of these communities, a very high percentage of the population moved onto these cards. The cashless welfare cards worked on the premise that everyone on that card would get 80 per cent of the welfare paid to a debit card that meant that they could not purchase alcohol and/or could not purchase gambling products.

I know one of these communities very well, the community of Ceduna, which I grew up relatively near to. I know people there and I have been to Ceduna a number of times as well. Virtually every person I knew and spoke to about this card said it changed almost overnight. As soon as people could not go and purchase alcohol, could not go and purchase gambling products, the atmosphere changed and it was safer. In some of these communities children were on the streets at night because it was not safe in their homes. During the daytime people with drinking problems are obviously a problem for the community and it makes the community feel very unsafe. What this card did was change that. Was it perfect? No. Was it a thing that you would elect to do? No. But what it did was make women and children feel safer. So I have never really understood the ideological obsession of those opposite to abolish the cashless welfare card. In a perfect world I know you wouldn't need it but it was having a real, tangible impact on the ground. If there is one thing you want to do as a government it is that you want to have tangible influence on the ground and you would want it to work. When I hear others saying it will be more efficient, or there are going to be mentoring programs, that is good, but it is really hard.

Alcoholics are alcoholics. When you have the cashless welfare card, you also want to incorporate programs with it. People need help when they are coming off any sort of addiction. But when an alcoholic goes from not being able to get cash to being able to get cash, guess what? They are going to start drinking more. All of the dysfunctionality of the behaviour that comes from that will happen. We had a representative group here today in this building talking about exactly this.

I was also surprised that the new government felt that this was a priority. This was not something they did a year or two after coming to government or did some consultation before they did it. One of the first things that those opposite did when they came into government was to abolish a card that meant alcoholics couldn't get money to drink. Especially in some of these remote communities where there is a high percentage of people on these cards, straightway the atmosphere changed.

I really made sure I spoke on this bill. We don't all speak on every bill that comes through this chamber, but I really wanted the opportunity to speak on this bill and take every opportunity to speak on this issue because it is a great shame on those opposite that they have done this. I think about the ideological obsession of those opposite. I heard when the bill to abolish the card went through this chamber that some on the other side said, 'People need more cash. Twenty per cent of cash is not enough. You need to buy some potpourri at the farmers market.' This is rubbish. These people are not spending money at farmers markets; these people are alcoholics. These people are spending money on booze and these people are now dangerous. These children are now not as safe as they were when the cashless welfare card was in place.

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