Ben Morton (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am in this place to do everything I can to make lives better. I am in this place to empower people to take control of their lives and for government, where it needs to, to co-invest in an individual's future, to help hardworking Australians reach their full potential. This is my absolute focus when we look at social policy and our welfare system. Sadly, the lazy application of cash as welfare in some cases is making lives worse, not better. I have seen firsthand in my own family how drugs burn even the closest of bonds, and I have seen the intersection of welfare and drugs in our community.

The cashless debit card—also known as the healthy welfare card—is changing lives for the better, and the strong independent evaluation results of the trial tell us just how big the positive impact is. The card is not a silver bullet—we know and acknowledge that—but it is an important tool in the fight against alcohol and drug abuse and the violence and crime that come with that. The trial has been effective in reducing alcohol consumption, illegal drug use and gambling. Twenty-five per cent of participants and 13 per cent of family members reported drinking alcohol less frequently. Thirty-two per cent of participants and 15 per cent of family members reported gambling less. Twenty-four per cent reported using illegal drugs less often.

But I am not someone who just believes reports. So I travelled to Kununurra and Wyndham earlier this year to see the trial of the healthy welfare card and to understand from community leaders and locals how the card was making their community better. I met with many people who supported the card and I met with some who do not in Kununurra and Wyndham. The number of pick-ups made by the Kununurra Community Patrol Service for Alcohol in January 2017 was 19 per cent lower than in January 2016. Admissions to the Wyndham Sobering-up Unit in September 2016 were 49 per cent lower than before the trial began in September 2015. Ambulance alcohol-related call-outs were down by some 30 per cent. And the sales at the Wyndham bottle shop have dropped by over 40 per cent. But some sales are up. In visiting the Wyndham supermarket I asked questions about what products were selling more so now than previously. Baby products are being sold more so now as a percentage than previously. Food, particularly fish fingers, have gone through the roof. Fish fingers are not perhaps the best dinner, but any food in the belly is better than grog in the belly of a parent.

I met with community leaders who helped me get to the nuts and bolts of this policy. I met with mums at the Wyndham Early Learning Activity Centre. I met with the Chamber of Commerce and a number of health and cultural organisations. I met with the police and I heard firsthand about how they were being called out less for alcohol-fuelled call-outs. And I spent a 12-hour shift overnight, from 6 pm to 6 am, with the volunteers at the St John Ambulance at Kununurra. What an amazing experience that was! In Kununurra, the ambulance service is provided by volunteers, and on each of the call-outs—which I will not go into in detail—alcohol played a significant part. Those ambulance volunteers, who deal with alcohol illness and the violent consequences of that, told me that the card is making a big difference. This is a big step forward. The card is working well, but there are some limitations on the way the card is being trialled, because royalty payments continue to inject cash into this community. Sly grogging from neighbouring communities is a problem, as is the influx of people from out of town who are not participating in the cashless debit card trial.

There is some concern in communities that the healthy welfare card, or the cashless debit card, is targeting Indigenous communities. But, for me, this card is not just for Indigenous communities, and I am very pleased that the government has announced further communities to be added to the trial. I hope that, with the addition of new communities, non-Indigenous communities will also participate. Community leaders across Australia are lobbying to be included in the extension of this program, wanting to be part of making lives better.

The healthy welfare card is a policy about all Australians. I congratulate the Minister for Social Services and the Minister for Human Services for their commitment to this important trial. Their reforms announced in the extension of the healthy welfare card and the greater mutual obligation provisions for welfare recipients are bold but fair, and they have my full support. Working age welfare should not be compensation for the situation someone finds themselves in. Rather, it must be an investment in where they can go. The lazy application of cash is not working. It is not making lives better. The healthy welfare card, the cashless debit card, is making a positive difference, and I fully support the rollout of that card to further communities.