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

The Minister for Families and Social Services visited Bundaberg and Hervey Bay last week and had the opportunity to confirm the results of the almost 200 consultations that have taken place across the region. He heard firsthand from local service providers, potential participants, councils and the business community about the impacts they expect the card to have, and the overwhelming response was it's about time. The expansion to the Bundaberg and Hervey Bay region is an opportunity for government to test the card's flexibility as a tool to support people in non-remote locations and to help address social problems such as high youth employment, drug and alcohol abuse, and intergenerational welfare dependency. This government makes no apology for looking to find every measure that it can to reduce harm to individuals.