Senate debates

Thursday, 8 February 2018

Bills

Social Services Legislation Amendment (Cashless Debit Card) Bill 2017; Second Reading

1:57 pm

Photo of Scott RyanScott Ryan (President) Share this | | Hansard source

( I call a very patient Senator Paterson, who will likely be interrupted for a second time shortly.

Photo of James PatersonJames Paterson (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

To avoid that eventuality, I am going to be very brief. I appreciate the opportunity to sum up this wonderful bill. In short, the cashless welfare debit card trial is changing people's lives for the better. It is saving lives. Communities across Australia are crying out for it. They are desperate for it. They have seen its success and they want it to be brought to their own towns and their own communities too. I call on the parliament and this chamber in particular to very seriously consider supporting this bill so that the good work that already has happened—the 41 per cent reduction in drinking, the 48 per cent reduction in drug taking and the 48 per cent reduction in gambling that we have seen in the early trial period of this program—can be rolled out to other communities so that we can continue to learn from the successes of this program. We can continue to refine it to ensure that it is rolled out successfully in other communities so that the people, particularly in remote and regional Australia, who are suffering very much from the ills of welfare dependence and the lack of employment, can find a pathway back to dignity, can find a pathway back to control over their own lives. This is how we can help them to do that.

We can help them to do that by supporting this bill, by allowing these trials to expand, particularly into Queensland in the Bundaberg and Hervey Bay regions and of course into Western Australia in the Kalgoorlie region. I visited Kalgoorlie for a Senate inquiry very recently, and it was very sad to hear the stories of abuse, neglect and addiction suffered by many people in those communities. This is one very powerful step that we can take to help that community tackle this problem. It is no wonder that so many community leaders are calling on the government to expand the trial to their communities. It is no wonder they are begging us to have it introduced. I ask the Senate ignore those hysterical contributions to this debate by the Greens earlier, who are opposed in principle to this, not at all just because of the way it's been rolled out or the way it's been implemented.

I conclude by saying that I hope the Senate seriously considered supporting this very worthy bill so that this program can continue to improve lives and Australia.

Photo of Scott RyanScott Ryan (President) Share this | | Hansard source

It being 2 pm, we will move to questions without notice.