Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has resisted calls from the opposition to reinstate the cashless debit card program.
Speaking from WA, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and Nationals Leader David Littleproud called on the prime minister to reinstate the cashless debit card (CDC), saying its removal was responsible for a spike in alcohol-fuelled violence in regional and remote towns.
Mr Albanese, who was also in the state on his ninth visit since being elected last May, defended the federal government's newly created SmartCard against the opposition's claims it was a "waste of time and money" due to its voluntary status.
The scheme for welfare recipients will roll out next month and follows the abolishment of the CDC.
Like its predecessor, which was trialled in WA's Goldfields and East Kimberley regions, the SmartCard will restrict certain purchases, including alcohol and tobacco.
During a brief stopover in Kalgoorlie-Boulder on Monday, Mr Albanese was asked if it was a mistake to abolish the CDC program before additional support services were introduced.
"It was based upon the advice we received," Mr Albanese said in an interview with ABC Goldfields.
The prime minister said he hoped the SmartCard would help address what he called "intergenerational disadvantage".
"We will continue to work through these issues," he said.
"A lot of it, of course, is about creating opportunity for people, overcoming educational disadvantage.
"It comes down, in many cases, to an intergenerational issue, and you don't solve that with a media grab.
"You solve that with hard work, with listening and then being prepared to act."
'Rivers of grog reopened'
Mr Dutton travelled to Laverton to meet with locals and said the removal of the cashless debit card was one of the key drivers of alcohol-fuelled crime.
"One of the first decisions that they took was to abolish the cashless debit card, and by abolishing the cashless debit card, the rivers of grog have just reopened," Mr Dutton said.
"They've started to flow, and we're seeing a step up in violence again.
"There are a lot of mayors here in WA at the moment in regional and remote areas who are very worried that they're heading down the Alice Springs path."
Call for cashless welfare to be reintroduced
Mr Littleproud visited Carnarvon, in the Gascoyne region, where he called for the cashless debit card to be reintroduced if it was backed by local shires.
"Where you've got local communities asking for it to be trialled because they see the challenges on the ground," he said.
"Those that are facing these problems are telling us kids are hungry. If kids are hungry, their primal instincts are kicking in."
Carnarvon Shire president Eddie Smith said he would like more detail before taking a position.
"I've heard some cases where it has had a positive impact and others where it's been negative, we just need more information," he said.
"The problems [in the community] are quite complex and there are many, and I think any change to what we are doing is going to take some hard thinking and advice from lots of people."
Mass exodus from welfare scheme
According to the Department of Social Services, 98 per cent of the participants in the Goldfields' cashless debit card trial have transitioned off the scheme since last October.
Only 55 people out of a total of 2,420 continue to use the income management scheme.
Mr Albanese said the SmartCard was an improvement on the CDC program.
He said $68.9 million in additional funding was being directed to the four CDC trial sites, including the Goldfields, East Kimberley, Ceduna in South Australia and the Bundaberg and Hervey Bay regions in Queensland.
The money will be used to support the communities in their transition away from the CDC program, by creating economic and employment opportunities and by funding alcohol and drug treatment services and other community needs.
"The problem with the CDC, which was found in the surveys and the reviews that were done, [was] it didn't provide for any medium-term transition at all," Mr Albanese told ABC Goldfields.
"It did quarantine income, but it also took away power from people.
"One of the things that the SmartCard will do is not just quarantine some income, but also provide for a range of services and ongoing support as well.
"What we're trying to do here is not say, 'OK, we're going to leave people on welfare and not give them hope of a better future of employment and training and the things that really lift people out of despair and poverty'."
No promise of additional funding
Mr Albanese was pressed on whether there was a need for additional funding support to address alcohol-fuelled violence in regional WA communities, like the $250 million emergency funding package recently announced for Alice Springs.
"There is need right around Australia for services … we are doing that within the constraint of inheriting a trillion dollars of debt," he said.
He was asked why the northern Goldfields town of Laverton, which has recently introduced liquor restrictions in a bid to address increasing levels of alcohol-related harm, had not received similar government support.
"You need to balance up provision of services," he said.
"You can't have the same level of services in every town as you do in the regional centres.
"Just like there's an ABC studio here [in Kalgoorlie], but not in Laverton. There are practical issues which have to be dealt with."
Last week, Liberal MP for O'Connor Rick Wilson, whose electorate includes the Goldfields CDC trial site, criticised the SmartCard for being a voluntary scheme.
"The fact that it's voluntary means that this card will be a complete waste of time and money," he said.
"The people that are causing the problems, the antisocial behaviour in the northern Goldfields at the moment, are not going to be the people who volunteer to go on this card."
Shire of Laverton president Pat Hill also last week blamed recent unrest on the removal of the CDC trial.
"These decisions these people make in Canberra have huge ramifications out here," he said.
"While they're over there [in Canberra], none of them see any of this and I don't think half of them even care about it."
