Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

Thanks, Senator McGrath. Colleagues, the Liberal-National government is committed to reducing the social harm caused by alcohol, drug abuse and gambling in areas with high levels of welfare dependency. I was very pleased that on 21 September the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Cashless Debit Card Trial Expansion) Bill 2018 was enacted, which expands the cashless debit card trial to Hinkler, with the rollout to commence from early 2019. The act adds the Bundaberg and Hervey Bay region as the fourth cashless debit card trial area and increases the limitation on numbers of participants to allow for the fourth trial site. The site will roll out in early 2019 and will operate in that region until 30 June 2020. The act also provides greater legislative consistency across all sites by embedding ministerial instrument provisions for the three existing sites into primary legislation. Finally, amendments moved by Senator Storer and supported by the government will require an independent evaluation of any review of the cashless debit card trial undertaken by the government or the department, which should be completed within six months. This builds on the previous legislation, which was passed in February 2018. It enables the extension of the cashless debit card in East Kimberley and Ceduna, and the expansion into the Goldfields in Western Australia to 30 June 2019.

The cashless debit card aims to test whether restricting the amount of cash in a community reduces the overall social harm caused by welfare-fuelled activities, which can be of harm to the individual. This is something worth pursuing.