Anthony Albanese in WA: PM stands by scrapping ‘patronising’ cashless debit card as McGowan flags alcohol bans

An apparent rift between Anthony Albanese and Mark McGowan over booze bans in regional towns — and the Prime Minister’s refusal to visit some of the communities worst impacted by alcohol-fuelled violence — has dominated the first day of his WA visit. The Premier on Monday flagged plans to slap alcohol restrictions on Carnarvon in response to escalating anti-social behaviour, with the decision coming just four months after Mr Albanese’s government scrapped the cashless debit card in the Goldfields and East Kimberley. The card’s removal has been blamed for a spike in crime in towns like Laverton, Leonora and Halls Creek — where community leaders have called for the Prime Minister to visit to witness firsthand the ensuing drunken unrest and its broader consequences. After spending time in Carnarvon on Friday — a trip that came following weeks of pressure and pleas for help from shire president Eddie Smith — Mr McGowan on Monday blamed the Gascoyne town’s issues on having never had “any real restrictions or any rules in place around alcohol”. “You go further north, you’ll see that there has been rules in place about how much you can buy, who can buy it, things like banned drinkers registers, some communities are dry,” Mr McGowan said. “But Carnarvon hasn’t had that. So we’re now looking very closely at what else we can do in Carnarvon to deal with it.” The development stood in stark contrast to the removal of the cashless debit card, a move Mr McGowan has never publicly endorsed — and again declined to back on Monday. “That’s a Federal Government matter,” Mr McGowan said. “They were elected on a commitment that they have carried out. I’m going to deal with what the State can do and in the case of Carnarvon, clearly, we need to look at what other restrictions will need to be put in place.” Mr Albanese was asked directly whether the McGowan Government had ever supported the card’s removal, but he said only that his party had been clear at the election about its position. Earlier in the day, speaking from Kalgoorlie, the Prime Minister defended discontinuing the scheme he has previously described as “patronising” for those welfare recipients who had up to 80 per cent of their income quarantined so it could not be spent on alcohol or gambling. “We took the evidence from the reports that were given to us when we made that decision,” Mr Albanese said. “And what we know is that the issues in many of these communities go to intergenerational disadvantage. There are these complex problems that require all of government and the community to work together. It requires us to listen to the communities.” Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth — one of the many Federal Cabinet ministers in Perth on Monday — said all state governments had been consulted over binning the cashless debit card and that they were free to enact their own alcohol controls or take other steps they thought necessary. “I think state governments understand the issues on the ground in their state and very much will make laws according to liquor licencing and law and order issues,” Ms Rishworth said. She added that the Commonwealth’s role was to provide the supports to regional communities such as economic development and job readiness. “When it comes to the cashless debit card, there was no evidence at that it was actually making a difference to alcohol misuse in communities,” she said. Mr McGowan hinted Carnarvon could act as a trial for the rollout of similar measures in other regional towns. “Clearly what’s been done to date — basically nothing — has not worked,” he said. “So we’ll get advice on what measures need to happen in a community like Carnarvon and perhaps we’ll see how it goes there before putting it in place in other communities.” Many rural WA towns — including Carnarvon, Laverton and Halls Creek — have called for the Prime Minister to visit and see for himself their situation. Nationals leader David Littleproud echoed those calls on Monday after spending a night in Carnarvon and seeing six break-ins within hours. “While he’s over here, stop. Don’t fly over Carnarvon to Port Hedland, but pull up and spend a night on the streets in Carnarvon or Laverton and understand the problem and the gravity of the problem – but also the solutions,” he said. However, Mr Albanese batted away the calls, saying he could not “go to every single place in Australia on every day” and had already visited WA nine times since being elected. “What I do, though, is get out and about… I’ve been the Prime Minister now for under nine months and so I think my commitment to Western Australia is very clear,” Mr Albanese said, pledging to “continue to be a regular visitor here”. Mr Albanese will host a meeting of his Cabinet in a shipping tower in Port Hedland on Tuesday and stressed he had recently visited flood-ravaged Fitzroy Crossing as well as Albany. A host of ministers were in Perth on Monday, announcing $150 million for playgroups and childcare, $10,000 incentive payments for apprentices in clean energy jobs, and $100 million pilot program for GPs to offer more services using nurse practitioners. Further underscoring WA’s newfound status as a crucial election battleground, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and his deputy Sussan Ley was also in the State, along with Mr Littleproud and Nationals Senate leader Bridget McKenzie. Mr Dutton claimed abolition of the cashless debit card had caused “rivers of grog” to re-open and vowed to re-instate the measure “in a heartbeat” if the Coalition were to win back government. “Frankly Mr McGowan should be calling out Mr Albanese in relation to the abolition of the cashless debit card because that is directly responsible for violence and the crime that we’re seeing,” he said. Mr McGowan labelled calls for the Prime Minister to visit Laverton “ridiculous” “If he went to Laverton, tomorrow you’d be saying why didn’t he go to Leonora?” The Premier said. “And then when he went to Leonora, you’d be saying why didn’t he go to Wiluna. When he went to Wiluna, you’d then question him why didn’t you go to Cue?” Asked if Mr Albanese would be facing calls to visit the Goldfields towns if his government had not ended the cashless debit card, the Premier responded: “No, I just think the calls are ridiculous.”