Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I did indicate earlier that I would get some information for the senator which might meet some of the queries he had. I will just make two points. Four thousand people have voluntarily decided to access the BasicsCard. They clearly then are not humiliated, as they have done it voluntarily. You may be worried about humiliation; I think you ought to be worried about poverty, child abuse, social dislocation, alcoholism and foetal alcohol syndrome, as I know you are. But you have to balance your preciousness about humiliation, which is not matched by the 4,000 people who did it, and the serious social issues occurring in these communities. You can meet with Green Left Weekly and other groups in Sydney and discuss broad policy and philosophical objectives but in the end you have to get down to saying, 'What can we do to help these communities that are suffering some of the worst social conditions in the world in the middle of one of the most prosperous economies in the world?' This is a genuine attempt to come to terms and to assist people to deal with those issues. You have a philosophical opposition to that, but we have taken a different view.

Senator Ludlam interjecting—

Senator Milne interjecting—