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Kimberley Land Council P.O Kimberley Land Council P.O. BOX 2145 BROOME WA 6725 Phone: (08) 9194 0100 Facsimile: (08) 9193 6279 Website: www.klc.org.au ABN 96 724 252 047 ICN 21 31 October 2017 The Secretary Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 Via email: [email protected] Submission to Inquiry into the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Cashless Debit Card) Bill 2017 The Kimberley Land Council (KLC) welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Cashless Debit Card) Bill. The KLC is the peak Indigenous regional representative body in the Kimberley. We are a community organisation that works for and with Traditional Owners of the Kimberley to get back country, look after country and get control of the future. The scope of this submission will be limited to the implementation and ongoing presence of the Cashless Debit Card (CDC) in the East Kimberley region where many KLC members reside. The KLC notes there is significant political will to see the CDC policy work, continue and expand. In recent months, the Kimberley has been the recipient of multiple visits by Australian politicians, including Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Minister for Indigenous Affairs Nigel Scullion, and Senators Jacquie Lambie and Skye Kakoschke-Moore. All visits have provided opportunities to publicise the purported benefits of the CDC. In the case of Senators Lambie and Kakoschke-Moore, the Senators travelled to Kununurra and Wyndham with Generation One – an organisation funded by Andrew Forrest’s Minderoo Foundation. The CDC is a key recommendation of Mr Forrest’s, The Forrest Review – Creating Parity.1 This unprecedented political interest in the Kimberley region of Western Australia is in response to the perceived epidemic of substance and gambling abuse among Aboriginal people. In reality the 14,000 Aboriginal people, including children, who live in the Kimberley make up approximately 0.56 per cent of the entire WA population. 1 Forrest, A ‘The Forrest Review – Creating Parity’ Commonwealth of Australia, 1 August 2014: https://www.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/Forrest-Review.pdf CORPORATE SERVICES REGIONAL OFFICE REGIONAL OFFICE SUB OFFICE BROOME DERBY KUNUNURRA PARAKU IPA, MULAN PO Box 2145, WA 6725 PO Box 377, WA 6728 PO Box 821, WA 6743 PO Box 157, WA 6765 TEL: (08) 9194 0100 TEL: (08) 9194 0175 TEL: (08) 9194 0190 TEL: (08) 9168 8259 FAX: (08) 9193 6279 FAX: (08) 9193 1163 FAX: (08) 9168 1509 FAX: (08) 9168 8170 In designing an appropriate response to the problem of substance abuse and excessive gambling within a sector of the population, it is important that the scale of the problem is not confused with the number of people in the population who engage in these behaviours. The solution should fit the problem and address the harm caused, not indiscriminately impact on those who fit a particular profile. While the KLC acknowledges the widespread negative impacts of alcohol and drugs in the Australian community, it is evident that it is Aboriginal people and communities who are most often penalised by punitive, experimental and top-down policies regarding an issue that impacts the whole of society. The government has taken what the KLC would characterise as a ‘sledgehammer’ approach, which does little to address the root cause of the issues faced by Aboriginal people, particularly those in the East Kimberley. The KLC is further concerned that for those people who need assistance to overcome alcohol and drug dependence, the CDC has very little proven ability to improve lives or create meaningful change. The KLC is of the opinion that the CDC policy serves as an unhelpful distraction from the many pressing issues facing Aboriginal communities in our region, such as the unrelenting suicide of our youth, lack of employment and economic opportunities, as well as widespread education failure. Flawed implementation The CDC was a recommendation of Mr Forrest in his Creating Parity report commissioned by then-Prime Minister, Tony Abbott. The card currently impacts approximately 1,200 people in the East Kimberley, three quarters of them reported to be Aboriginal. The CDC policy is in direct contrast to the Federal Government’s $5 million Empowered Communities program. Announced in 2014, Empowered Communities heralded a new beginning, promising Aboriginal people a “greater say and greater responsibility about how best to respond to local issues”. 2 Only two years later, Empowered Communities was undermined by the implementation of the CDC and the views of those most affected, local Aboriginal people, sidelined by a government determined to implement a flawed policy. In the East Kimberley, the cashless debit card was rolled out following little consultation with a select few. Miriuwung Gajerrong Corporation (MGC) Chairman Lawford Benning was one of four East Kimberley leaders who endorsed the implementation, but has since withdrawn his support. Mr Benning stated, “(CDC) didn’t do what I thought it was going to do and I don’t believe it has had the effect that I thought it would.”3 2 Tudge, A ‘Project launched to “Empower Communities”, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet – Indigenous Affairs: http://www.indigenous.gov.au/parliamentary-secretary-tudge-project-launched-to-empower- communities 3 Parke, E ‘Cashless welfare card divides East Kimberley as battle lines drawn over future’, ABC 24 August 2017: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-24/east-kimberley-cashless-welfare-card-trial-divides- community/8839764 Since the card’s implementation, there has been significant criticism of the lack of associated support services. This was confirmed during the KLC Board meeting in Kununurra in July, when Senator Jacquie Lambie said the East Kimberley had received inadequate “wrap- around” services, causing considerable issues with the effectiveness of the card’s roll out. It is evident that Aboriginal people in the East Kimberley have not been afforded suitable support to adjust to a life changing policy of this nature. Any continuation of this policy would require significant additional investment to provide services that assist people to address socio-economic and substance abuse issues. Unsound and inadequate evaluation The Federal Government has cited two evaluation reports produced by ORIMA as its main evidence for the continuation of the CDC in the East Kimberley and Ceduna, as well as a further roll out in the Goldfields and Bundaberg/Hervey Bay regions. The KLC has significant concerns about the validity of these reports, the evaluation methods used and the communication of these reports to the wider Australian public. The first ORIMA report was released in February 2017, approximately 12 months after the start of the CDC in the East Kimberley. The second report was released by Minister for Social Services Alan Tudge, in September 2017, who made widely-publicised claims that the card had resulted in considerable positive impact and had a large degree of support.4 However, independent assessments of the ORIMA evaluation reports are significantly more critical. In two separate reviews, Deputy Director of the Australian National University Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Janet Hunt, identified “serious flaws” with the ORIMA evaluation. In her first assessment Dr Hunt questioned the methodology of the ‘wave 1’ report and highlighted a number of “mixed findings”. Dr Hunt presented evidence that for 77 per cent of participants in the CDC trial there had been “no positive impact”. In addition, Dr Hunt said that an indefinite extension of the CDC in the East Kimberley and Ceduna was a “very premature decision” and could “be a mistake that may lead to poor public policy and bad public expenditure”.5 In her second assessment based on the government’s ‘wave 2’ ORIMA evaluation, Dr Hunt said the report had ignored critical data, including a sharp rise in assault incidence reports in the East Kimberley. She also questioned the reliability of information provided by participants who were asked to recall information over a 12 month period, as well as the possibility for their answers to be skewed.6 4 Tudge, A ‘Media Release: Evaluation finds “considerable positive impact” from cashless debit card’ Australian Government Department of Human Services 1 September 2017: https://www.mhs.gov.au/media- releases/2017-09-01-evaluation-finds-considerable-positive-impact-cashless-debit-card 5 Hunt, J ‘The Cashless Debit Card trial evaluation: A short review’ The Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Topical Issue (No 1/2017) 6 Hunt, J ‘The Cashless Debit Card evaluation: Does it really prove success?’ The Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Topical Issue (No 2/2017) Dr Hunt’s conclusions are supported by social policy analyst Eva Cox who has also highlighted problems with the evaluation’s survey design, sampling, how questions were asked, the ethics of the process and a lack of solid data.7 The KLC notes there are clear discrepancies in the data and analysis presented in the reports and the conclusions drawn by the government to claim the card’s success. Given these deficiencies and the evidently anecdotal nature of the evaluation, the KLC is concerned about this research being used to justify the continuation of the CDC in the East Kimberley. Further, it is critical that a much deeper and thorough evaluation take place, including all relevant data, before any further conclusions are drawn about the efficacy of the CDC. UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) requires States to consult and cooperate in good faith with Indigenous peoples to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them (article 19).8 Despite the endorsement of UNDRIP by Australia in 2009, the Federal Government has implemented an income management policy that does not meet the fundamental requirements of the declaration.
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