Media Statement: July 8 2024

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO CDC REVIEW: NOTHING TO SEE [OR] HEAR


 

The Albanese government has been in crisis mode, doing all kinds of gymnastics to avoid acknowledging the damning evidence contained within the University of Adelaide’s review into the cessation of the Cashless Debit Card (“CDC”). 

Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth has been proudly trumpeting the suggestion that causal statements cannot be issued from the report’s analysis.   

“Minister Rishworth is using this line as a get-out-of-jail-free card to blatantly ignore the Indigenous voices of participants in the CDC program who are trying to communicate the increase in harm and social dysfunction they are living with day in and day out,” said Senator Nampijinpa Price.

“I can guarantee the Albanese government did not, and would not, dream of using this kind of rhetoric to discard the experience-based evidence of Indigenous people who claimed that having a Voice to Parliament would make them feel heard.”

Senator Nampijinpa Price said “it’s a foolish and panicked response to some very significant findings, and this government clearly doesn’t know what to do with them. You’ve got

Minister Rishworth doing gymnastics to avoid the report’s contents, while Member for Lingiari, Marion Scrymgour today seemed to accept the report’s findings of increased alcohol consumption, gambling and violence.

The Labor government’s response isn’t surprising - it’s hard to respond coherently when you’re not willing to accept facts. For all their truth-telling advocacy, it’s moments like these that expose the government’s true position – not remotely interested in truth.  

Children going without food and clothing in Australia shouldn’t be a partisan issue. If the government had a shred of integrity, it would take seriously even the suggestion that children were going without basic necessities as a result of the CDC cessation. The audacity of this government to deny any link between the increase in these social harms and the ending of the CDC is simply criminal. 

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Media Contact: Rebekah Hart 0459 893 181