Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) | Hansard source

I am very pleased to be speaking on this motion today to highlight how devastating the Liberals and Nationals' cruel and unfair cashless debit card was on so many communities right across the nation and, in fact, why we got rid of it. Despite it being abolished, this motion contains the coalition's plans to reinstate the cashless debit card and, as we know, roll it out right across the country. We know that that was their agenda originally—they wanted to extend it to all pensioners and all people on income support, including those on the age pension. We know that that was their agenda.

The fact is that the cashless debit card was wrong and destructive. We went to the election last year with a commitment to abolish the card, and that is exactly what we have delivered. The cashless debit card was just an ideological obsession of those opposite. It was not a policy supported by evidence. It was the Liberals and Nationals obsession with privatised welfare. They knew all along that there was no evidence or data that the card actually worked, but they kept it in place and wanted to extend it.

I have previously outlined many instances where people's lives were actually destroyed by being forced onto the card, how it stigmatised them and made their lives incredibly difficult. They could only use the card at certain restricted locations and it was often declined. People couldn't buy basic food or groceries. Many people were unable to pay their rent and were forced into bankruptcy. Many were unable to make car repayments and buy school uniforms for their children. The fact is that the cashless debit card stripped away many people's rights and in many cases their dignity.

I've outlined many cases to the House, including Kerryn, a mother of five, who said it was a nightmare being on the card and she was unable to provide for her children. There is the case of Joslyn, who, at 65 years of age and on a disability pension, was forced onto the cashless welfare card just because of where she lived. She had always managed her own finances and was very much worse off because of the card.

We said enough is enough and we called time on the punitive cashless debit card, because our approach has always been to fund things that actually make a difference. Of course, our October budget allocated $217 million to abolish the cashless debit card program and fund support services. Some $158 million—over 70 per cent of this funding—will be used to support services for people in those cashless debit card communities. I remind those opposite that this is funding for services that they failed to provide for those communities. We've extended those support services and are funding new ones because we've been told that these are the services that will actually make a difference to those communities. We understand how important it is.

There has never been any evidence to show that the cashless debit card actually works. That's the reality of it—there's no data or evidence. A lot of evaluations, inquiries and audits have repeatedly shown that the card just did not work. In particular the Australian National Audit Office released in 2022 an audit of the performance of the card and found once more a lack of evidence to demonstrate any success at all. Despite this message being delivered twice—the ANAO's first report in 2018 and the second one in June 2022—the former government refused to listen again. It tells you everything you need to know about those opposite and what they think about the disadvantaged and most vulnerable people in our community. They completely ignored all of the evidence in all of those many reports.

As I said, we know the Liberals and Nationals are obsessed with their idea of privatised welfare. They are obsessed with this idea of this cruel and punitive cashless debit card. They're not interested in addressing the real issues that Australians are concerned about. They're only committed to reinstating the cashless debit card. They've said that so many times.

We also do know that they had secret plans to expand the card if they actually were successful at the election. We know this through many means, particularly through the very excellent reporting by Niki Savva in her book Bulldozed. She states there that there were three policies agreed to by Morrison's Expenditure Review Committee ahead of the budget. The first was to expand the cashless debit card. There it was in writing. We have seen other ones. They kept that decision secret when they were asked many times about the expansion, but we know that that was their plan. If they were back in government, that's precisely what they would do. They would bring it back in and expand it to all income recipients and pensioners, including those on age-care pensions.

This card has been incredibly destructive, and the fact is that privatised welfare does not work. Nothing highlights that more than the disaster of the cashless debit card. So many people—hundreds of them—told us how it devastated their lives and took away their dignity. Well, we acted and we got rid of the cashless debit card because we listened to communities and provided support to those who needed it the most.

See this speech in context