Michael Sukkar MP

INTERVIEW WITH KIERAN GILBERT – AFTERNOON AGENDA, SKY NEWS

THE HON MICHAEL SUKKAR MP – SHADOW MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES, NDIS, HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS

TRANSCRIPT

INTERVIEW WITH KIERAN GILBERT – AFTERNOON AGENDA, SKY NEWS

Thursday, 23 February 2023

TOPICS: CASHLESS DEBIT CARD, ASTON BY-ELECTION

E&OE

Kieran Gilbert

Let’s bring in the Shadow Minister for Social Services, Michael Sukkar. You heard what Justine Elliott said there describing the criticism and the concerns of Pat Hill and others as disingenuous, and that the problems have been there for a lot longer than just the removal of the car. What do you say to that?

Michael Sukkar

Well I think it’s outrageous, Kieran, that a minister would attack local communities in this way who are crying out. These are local communities, Kieran, who told us when Labor foreshadowed that they would abolish the cashless debit card, that this would have devastating consequences on their communities. We now see following the abolition of the cashless debit card, that tsunami of alcohol and drugs and dysfunction and violence now impacting those communities is the last thing the Labor Government should be doing is criticising the people who are now in those communities and suffering and dealing with the consequences of their very scandalous decision to abolish the cashless debit card. We warned them in the Parliament. I warned them very strongly that if you abolish the cashless debit card, you will unleash alcohol, drugs and violence into these communities. It’s exactly what’s happened. The only decent course of action now from the Government is to reverse its position. As we’ve seen in the Northern Territory, reverse its position and reinstate the compulsory cashless debit card, which we know did not solve every problem, but it certainly meant that these communities, like the ones you described, haven’t been dealing with the dysfunction that they’re now seeing in a really rapid fashion.

Kieran Gilbert

Yeah, well, I’ve got those comments from the 2nd of November that you suggested scrapping the CDC makes a bad situation worse. Now, the Opposition Leader was in Laverton and Leonora this week. Did he receive direct evidence that the removal of the cashless debit card has caused alcohol abuse and worse?

Michael Sukkar

Well, we’ve seen it not just in WA here and we’ve seen it in Ceduna. We’re now seeing reports out of sites in Queensland as well that had the cashless debit card. So it’s not a phenomenon that’s just Western Australia. In fact, Ellen Whinnett in the Australian road a couple of weekends ago about the increased dysfunction that they were seeing instituted in South Australia. So what is common among all of these communities that previously had a cashless debit card is when you remove the card you unleash alcohol, drugs and violence into those communities. That makes a bad situation worse as I said, and as I also said in the Parliament and have repeated it many times, Kieran, you don’t need to be a genius. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to know if you put more drugs, more alcohol into vulnerable communities. The outcomes for the community and particularly for women and children is worse. We see out of WA now reports of even greater neglect of children, lower school participation . Again, I don’t think you needed to be an expert in the field to know – you unleash the alcohol as Labor has done – that these will be the consequences. And I think the only decent thing for Labor to do now is to admit that they got it wrong, admit that they have caused this and work really quickly to reverse it by reinstating the compulsory cashless debit card.

Kieran Gilbert

Now, when you look at the response to the crime wave in Alice Springs, the Prime Minister went there, it was an emergency no doubt, and the bans reinstated. This though, this area is a direct result of this Government’s policies as opposed to the alcohol and crime wave in Alice Springs. What specifically needs to happen, other than what you said there about reinstating the cashless debit card to stop the alcohol abuse and the devastation that we’re seeing across many of these towns and centres?

Michael Sukkar

Well, let’s start by listening to the community leaders so rather than Justine Elliot attacking a local Mayor who is cleaning up after the Labor Government and dealing with the mess they’ve created, they should be listening to those communities who are saying that removal of the cashless debit card has hurt them. Let’s be frank Kieran, and you raised Alice Springs. I mean, the Federal Labor Government have taken the problem, problems that we’ve seen in Alice Springs and taken them national by abolishing the cashless debit card. The same Labor ideology that led to a Labor Territory Government removing alcohol bans is the precise ideology we’re now saying that Federal Labor has taken nationally and that is to take the approach that allowing more drugs on to the streets is somehow empowering communities. It’s quite the opposite here. And so, you know, I think most people would would have seen that the Prime Minister was forced into action in Alice Springs because of the disgrace that we saw there that was a direct outcome of a Labor Government decision. We are, as you say, are seeing the exact same thing in former cashless debit card sites around the country. The only decent thing to do as a first step is to reinstate the CDC, admit they got it wrong and then once that occurs, work in with communities, listening to communities just like the Mayor that you quoted – don’t attack those communities, don’t question their motives, because those are the people who are cleaning up after the Labor Party right now. They’re the ones who are dealing with the dysfunction, the violence in their communities and I think after re-establishing the CDC, the government needs to work with them, listen to them, rather than attacking them for just calling out what is self-evident.

Kieran Gilbert

What do you say to the argument by Justine Elliot and the Government that there was alcohol abuse and violence in these various communities before the card was made voluntary?

Michael Sukkar

Sure, but it’s now orders of magnitude worse and you don’t need to trust me, Kieran, and your viewers don’t need to trust the opposition. The people in the community are saying it is orders of magnitude worse and again, you don’t need to be a genius. You unleash more alcohol onto the streets, you’re going to see much more dysfunction. So sure, the situations may not have been perfect previously, but now, as an example, in Ceduna, we had examples in Ceduna of really of a thriving tourism sector recovering. We saw the dysfunction that had been there previously – reduced massively, and then just by coincidence, when the CDC is abolished, it all comes back with a vengeance and is arguably ten times worse. I mean, we saw an example where the Social Services Minister, Amanda Rishworth ordered a private taxpayer funded jet to fly her out of Ceduna because of the violence that was prevalent on the streets there. We’ve even heard about that in Senate Estimates. So the minister’s not willing to stay in a town that’s suffering that kind of violence and dysfunction, but there’s an expectation that women and children have to live in that community. I think it’s a scandal Kieran, and I think the sooner Labor admits they made a mistake, put their hand up and say they made a genuine mistake and fix this, the better. And if they do want to fix it, the Opposition will support them all the way.

Kieran Gilbert

Couple of quick ones before you go. The Aston by-election, some concern among parliamentary colleagues that members, local party members did not get a say in the selection process. Are you happy with the outcome and can you hold onto that seat?

Michael Sukkar

Well look, the membership of the party are represented by our administrative committee, who chose the outstanding candidate Roshena Campbell. So I think the parties are very enthusiastic about our candidate in Aston and very pleased with someone who’s going to be a great champion for that community. As the electorate neighbouring Aston, I have a real interest in it and have a lot to do with the Aston community as well. And I can say with Roshena Campbell, she is going to work day and night to earn the trust between now and election day. It’s always hard by-elections are always unpredictable, but I feel I feel some comfort that we’ve got an outstanding candidate. And I think, you know, we’ve been seeing this week with the Government’s plans that they have in a haphazard way released in relation to another broken promise on superannuation. I think with that issue and many other broken promises – that the electors of Aston are saying the Government for what it is and it presented itself in one way before the election and has done something quite different since. And you know, it was mortgage belt seats in the outer suburbs of Melbourne. They are suffering the full brunt of a number of those broken promises, including the broken promises on cheaper energy, the broken promises on cheaper mortgages. And I think with an outstanding candidate in Roshena Campbell, she should be able to make that case to the people and I’m confident that she’ll earn their trust.

Kieran Gilbert

Michael Sukkar, thanks for your time.

Michael Sukkar

Appreciate it. Good on you, Kieran.