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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-08-28 Daily Xml
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Cashless Debit Card

The Hon. B.R. HOOD (14:58): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Attorney-General regarding cashless debit cards.

Leave granted.

The Hon. B.R. HOOD: On Friday night at 10pm in July, the Albanese government quietly released the independent report on the impacts of scrapping the cashless debit card. The University of Adelaide's report findings were unequivocal. Since its abolition, the report found:

declining levels of child wellbeing and welfare;

children not being fed or clothed properly due to cash being spent on alcohol and gambling;

increased instances of unsupervised children on the streets at night; and

decreased school attendance, particularly in Ceduna.

In every region where the card previously applied, its removal resulted in increased criminal activity reported by businesses, a large increase in people seeking emergency relief services and a rise in alcohol-related violence. My questions to the Attorney-General are:

1. Has the minister read the report?

2. Does he stand by previous comments in this place that the Liberals are misrepresenting the situation in Ceduna?

3. Does the Attorney still maintain the view that the Liberal Party and the Hon. Sarah Game are conflating correlation and causation between the removal of the cashless debit card and increased antisocial issues in Ceduna?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:00): I thank the honourable member for the question. I haven't read the report, but I certainly will and I thank the honourable member for highlighting it. I will be very interested to see whether the report draws a distinction between areas that have never had that card in place and whether there are the corresponding statistics that the honourable member has said are in the report, because it would, of course, need to have that comparison against other places in order to draw any conclusions whatsoever about the removal of the card and any impacts it has had.

What I certainly won't resile from is my disappointment, and certainly the local Aboriginal community leaders' disappointment, in some of the demonising of Aboriginal people that has gone on for purely political gain. To demonise Aboriginal people and to weaponise disadvantage is a deeply unfortunate thing that some do for their own political advantage, and it is certainly not something I endorse.

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