James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Social Security (Administration) Amendment (Income Management Reform) Bill 2023. Today we've seen leaders from communities in Western Australia come to this parliament and meet with the opposition leader, other senior shadow ministers and members of the coalition from Western Australia to talk about just what the practical impacts have been in their communities thanks to the abolition of the cashless debit card. It was a very sad day in this chamber when, ultimately, the parliament and the Senate passed legislation to repeal that program. That's because it was such a vital tool in helping to address some of the most significant challenges, particularly in the communities that it had been trialled in. They were struggling with serious issues, particularly around alcohol and other substance abuse. As we know, it was a very simple proposition: to provide welfare support payments through the system with the cashless debit card. It meant that all sorts of purchases could be undertaken through that scheme without allowing purchase of certain prohibited items, like alcohol. Of course, participants were not able to remove cash and turn a welfare payment into cold, hard cash. That was not just to prevent it being used on alcohol but, potentially, for other substance abuse and things that, frankly, were the source of the most significant challenges in those communities.

It has been heartbreaking to hear from people from those communities first hand. In the case of Western Australia, some have come to this parliament today, in desperation, to share their story of just what impact this decision has had on their communities. They're not motivated by anything other than wanting to do the best thing for the communities that they live in—to have all the tools at their disposal to manage some of the challenges that have befallen their communities. Of course, they support the cashless debit card wholeheartedly. What has always surprised me about the cashless debit card is that every local member of parliament who had a trial site in their community supported it. When they spoke in this chamber about the cashless debit card deployment in their communities, they talked about the benefit that it had in managing the serious social challenges in those communities. If we, as a parliament, are not prepared to listen to local members with real on-the-ground experience, and the feedback from their community leaders about such a program, then what exactly are we doing here as the House of Representatives? Those representatives, the ones who actually knew what they were talking about when it came to the success of that program, were all utterly in favour of its continuation. Yet now—and, I suspect, because of certain groups of influence foisting this policy on to the now government and the then Labor Party opposition—those opposite now have to pretend that this is something which has community support and has not had a diabolical impact on the communities that have had it taken away from them. We know that's just not true. That evidence is from the leadership that is taking significant steps to reach out to this building by physically attending here and doing all that they can to try to get access to decision-makers in government. I believe the Prime Minister indicated in question time that the minister has agreed to meet with that delegation from Western Australia, and that is a good thing. That is a relief. Hopefully, she doesn't just meet with them; hopefully, she listens to them. Hopefully, she listens to their stories and their explanation of why the cashless debit card was making such a difference in their communities.

I'm from South Australia, and in the electorate of the member for Grey, which covers about 90 per cent of our state, in Ceduna one of these trials was occurring. Allan Suter, the now former mayor there, was renowned for doing all that he could to embrace any opportunity to make a meaningful difference in his community, and he embraced significantly the opportunity of the cashless debit card and, of course, espoused its success. Rowan Ramsey, the member for Grey in this chamber, of course was in a position to report very clearly and very directly to us, as the local member for that electorate, as to the value and benefit of that scheme there in Ceduna.

I've travelled to Ceduna once or twice in my life. I remember being there in 2013 and observing the very significant issues, particularly with alcohol abuse, in the Ceduna community. One of the most heartbreaking examples was that a young man whose principal place of residence had become the local sobering-up centre, he was on such a permanent rotation of inebriation, being taken to the sobering-up centre, then leaving that sobering-up centre and again embracing alcohol on a daily basis. When the police would ask him where he lived when they had to very regularly intervene in issues of his public disturbances and ask for his address, he would give his address as the local sobering-up unit because he lived there. He was there every day, continuously, repeatedly. That young man is an example of someone who was, regrettably, able to use his welfare to feed that alcohol addiction. What the cashless debit card was achieving, which is exactly what the communities were embracing, was breaking that cycle of people being able to use their welfare to fund certain habits that might have included but were not limited to alcohol and drug abuse et cetera. Of course, apart from the damage they were doing to themselves through that addiction, which was significant in its own right, it flowed on to impact on other people, the public peace and the community.

Ceduna was just one example where the community, having operated that scheme as a pilot for several years, embraced and supported it. Obviously, like any program, there was a need to consider, fine tune and look for opportunities to improve the way in which it operated, and that was the case in many of the sites. Local businesses had to adapt and understand how to properly interface and interact with it. But it is a great loss, and this bill that we have before us is really a continuation of this agenda that the government has to remove from the community the tools to fight against some of the significant social challenges that they have. We very much regret the repeal of the cashless debit card. As the lead speaker for the opposition, our shadow minister, had indicated, we are not going to stand in the way of this bill passing, subject to the very sensible amendments that we are proposing. A lot of money has been spent. It seems that we are getting a card with a new name and some kind of payWave capability for more than $200 million, which is a spectacular cost. So the value for money within this proposal interests me greatly.

But, as I indicated, we in the opposition are prepared to not stand in the way of this bill passing, subject to our sensible amendments being approved. But we note with great regret the aftermath of the repeal of the cashless debit card and that this is, of course, part of the implementation of that policy platform and it is causing heartbreaking consequences in the communities that have been using it. It's a lost opportunity for the communities that hadn't been using it to have access to it. It's a lost opportunity to be able to make sure the support programs, the welfare programs and the welfare payments that are provided to people are indeed actually used for the purposes in which they are intended, and that communities can be empowered to not need to deal with those additional challenges that the free use of cash from welfare can create when those social problems exist.

With those comments, I urge the government to strongly consider supporting our amendments so that we can co-operate and progress this bill through the House. This area of policy and the consequences that we are seeing are very regrettable, as is the re-emergence of problems that had started to be dealt with in those communities where the cashless debit card was rolled out. I hope the government will listen to the community leaders that are making such important and vital points about what the aftermath has been in those areas that have now lost the use of the cashless debit card. We hope the government will reconsider this area of policy. We hope they support these amendments. I commend those amendments to the House.

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