Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I'll take the interjection from across the chamber. I was just told that the cashless debit card will fix that. How mistaken is this government! The cashless debit card punishes people and, in fact, takes away people's cash. It actually means they have less cash to spend—cash that would enable then to take advantage of second-hand goods or go to markets. Go out and talk to people who are trying to survive on the cashless debit card. It is punitive and it makes life harder. I've been out there. I've talked to a lot of people over the 12 years that income management has been going on in this country. If you'd been at the hearing on Monday night, you too would have heard about some of the impacts of the cashless debit card and the fact that income management in the Northern Territory has not met any of its objectives—not one!—and that's from an independent analysis. This government is failing to manage the economy for the people it is supposed to serve, and, in particular, those living in poverty.