Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Social Services) | Hansard source

Apologies, Deputy Speaker. I was addressing the public of Australia. I should address you directly. My point is that this cashless debit card was working. Since it was abolished, you have seen that the rates of crime have risen, children are not safe at home and food is not going on the table.

In my community alone, I have had people, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, speak to me, saying, 'It's a good idea. We should have it in our communities. It helps us. There will no longer be the threat of a man standing over a woman saying, "Give me your money"'—because that is exactly what happened. That is exactly what happened in these communities and what continues to happen in other communities, where grandparents are having their money taken from them by their children and grandchildren. They would like to see the cashless debit card, because they have to hand over the money because of the fear. You hear stories about kids being returned who are clinging to the legs of welfare officers, because their communities are awash with drugs and alcohol. So to suggest that the cashless debit card was something evil—it was doing good in those communities. It was helping those communities.

We see that, because of ideology, Labor has put in a watered-down version. Well, ideology hurts. Ideology hurts people, and bad policy hurts people. I look forward to hearing from the next speaker from our side, the member for Hinkler, because it was implemented in his electorate and he will tell you that it worked. But now we see young kids being abused, being unsafe, woman being unsafe, and crime spiralling out of control because Labor thought, with its ideology, that this was a wonderful, unique world where 'we'll give people the money that they earn on welfare'. Then they go off. It is a fact. Men go off, buy drugs, buy alcohol and inflict pain on the community. That is not me saying it. That is not me making it up. I go back to the statistics, which are conveniently ignored by Labor across the floor. Domestic violence crime rose by 57 per cent. That is women suffering. That is children suffering because of this ideology, because of an election promise. Labor should be ashamed of themselves because they took it to an election and they are now hurting the people in those small communities who need the help the most.

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