Minister for Indigenous Australians
LYRELLA COUZENS, HOST: So, despite the CLP coming to power with a pledge of $180 million for domestic violence services, that funding hasn't really been seen on the ground. And already, tragically, one woman has died this year, allegedly at the hands of her partner in Alice Springs. So, advocates are now saying, well, look, if this money doesn't hit the ground and start to flow soon, we are going to see more deaths. Senator for the Northern Territory, the Minister for indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, you're hearing the urgency there from advocates. Yesterday I did speak to Luke Gosling, who is, of course, the member for Solomon. Now, he reckons that the delays in spending money are because there's no frontline workers. I don't think that that is good enough. I think that there's a whole raft of stakeholders who could be getting that money. What do you think?
MINISTER FOR INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS, MALARNDIRRI MCCARTHY: Good morning Lyrella and good morning to your listeners. Certainly, the DV services across the Northern Territory desperately need that support right now. I've met with quite a number of them in Alice Springs and certainly in Katherine just before Christmas. I know that they are there at the front line and they require that support right now.
LYRELLA COUZENS: And are you speaking with the CLP Government here to say, hey, what's happening with the money?
MALARNDIRRI MCCARTHY: Well, I've certainly spoken with the Chief Minister in terms of Central Australia, but also more broadly around DV and the fact that our jails are filling up largely with DV cases in terms of alleged perpetrators. I know that that's on the agenda for the Chief Minister in terms of the prison system. What I would like to do is reach out to Robyn Cahill, and I'm doing that this week, in terms of meeting with her. I'd like to understand why it is that they're unable to spend the money that we have provided at the federal level. I did mention that before going into the Christmas break that the Northern Territory Government has the funding from the Commonwealth to do that, but I think this is too serious an issue, Lyrella, to just be politicking in the media. I do want to meet with Robyn Cahill. I do want to have constructive conversations to give relief to those working in the DV sector. They need our support, whatever political persuasion we are.
LYRELLA COUZENS: All right. So, it'd be terrific, Adam Steer, who normally sits in this seat, will be back next week. It'd be terrific if we could catch up with you, please, to find out what is happening with that money because everybody's devastated. We've had another death. It's not good enough.
MALARNDIRRI MCCARTHY: Of course it's not good enough. And to all those families in Central Australia, I certainly am very aware of what this means to them and also the workers who work with, and no doubt have worked with the lady in question here and the tragedy of what has occurred in Alice Springs. I just don't want to see this continue. So, I will certainly be wanting to meet with the Minister Robyn Cahill, but also continue my discussions with the Chief Minister.
LYRELLA COUZENS: Okay. On some other issues. I'd like to talk to you about the cashless debit card because recently the Coalition said that they want to bring it back, possibly as an opt in system. Now, in the past you have been very against that card. Where are you standing on that now?
MALARNDIRRI MCCARTHY: We came to government planning to abolish the cashless debit card across the country, Lyrella, for very good reason. We had numerous inquiries before coming into government that found it wasn't the answer. People were starving, people were having difficulty in paying their bills. People found it was discriminatory. People found that they had a standard in society that meant they were looked down upon and that they couldn't do things. This all came through in numerous Senate inquiries, but also in reports by universities. So, we were very vehement in coming into government to remove that. When we removed it, what we've done is made sure that we've injected resources into services. Now, I've just been in Kununurra, knowing that we needed to make sure in places like in the Kimberley that they had resources in alcohol rehab, that they had resources in getting their children to school, that there were resources in trying to have a positive way through this, not to keep putting people down. And we will continue to do that. In Central Australia and the Northern Territory more broadly, people are on BasicsCard, Lyrella, and I know that that is different to the cashless debit card. And that is something that we will continue to look at to see how that's going as well.
LYRELLA COUZENS: Yeah, I have to say that is quite confusing. The difference between the BasicsCard and the cashless card, are you able to just explain -
MALARNDIRRI MCCARTHY: It's more around the percentage. Sure, yeah, absolutely. Happy to. It's more around the percentages of how much your income is quarantined. So, on the BasicsCard it's around 50%. If you're on the cashless debit card, it can be 80% or more and that's quite difficult for people. So, we understand with the BasicsCard, when we've had general conversations with families and services across the Northern Territory, people seem happy with that, they can cope with that. It is about their living standards as well. And so, we accept that the BasicsCard is something that does work to a degree. But we know that with the cashless card debit card, in terms of the percentages of that, that was just not possible.
LYRELLA COUZENS: Some people have suggested, certainly here in the Northern Territory, I can't speak for other parts of the country, that having an opt in system with the cashless credit card, cashless card I'm talking about specifically now, so they can stick their hand up and say, yes, I want to be a part of this. Is that something that you would look at?
MALARNDIRRI MCCARTHY: Look, what we do have is income management, which people can go to Centrelink and ask for any kind of income management that supports them individually. That is something any person can do. We don't mandate that you can't have income management, we're just saying that you can't have the form of the cashless debit card at 80%.
LYRELLA COUZENS: Yeah. OK. So, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, I know that you for a very long time have been an advocate for community development programs, proper jobs, wages. We are obviously heading into an election year. Can you say you've been successful in this space for First Nations people?
MALARNDIRRI MCCARTHY: We've worked hard in this space. It has been a huge turnaround from the Community Development Program to abolish that but be mindful of how you abolish it. So, we've had to transition the abolishment, if that makes sense. You can't just pull the rug out on people and say there's nothing there while you're trying to create something. So, the past couple of years, what we've done is set up a timeline where we would slowly get people off the CDP and transition into the Remote Jobs Program, which is what we're doing now. So, we have the grant rounds out now, Lyrella, so people can apply for those grant round fundings. We want to see 3,000 jobs across the areas of Northern Australia and parts of South Australia and New South Wales. So, this is why I was in Kununurra yesterday, having a look at a couple of the areas there in terms of tourism, in terms of media, where our jobs are already underway and seeing how people are going in those jobs, but also in the arts and language sector. I know that our communities have a need for this and they can do it.
LYRELLA COUZENS: Well, that's all sounding very positive, I have to say.
MALARNDIRRI MCCARTHY: Well, it's fantastic. I mean, you know, we know we have problems, but what I'm all about, Lyrella, is knowing that we've got a lot of good people in a lot of these places across Australia. And it's about getting behind and supporting those good people, good programs and making sure that they know they're supported and they have the resources to give people the jobs and dignity and work that's required.
LYRELLA COUZENS: Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, thank you so much for stepping in this morning with an update there.
MALARNDIRRI MCCARTHY: My pleasure. Thank you Lyrella.
