Mr. Love questions the Premier about a potential correlation between the removal of the cashless debit card and increased alcohol-related violence in remote areas. The Premier acknowledges the issue and discusses government action.

AnsweredQoN 66Legislative Assembly
Asked
21 February 2023
Portfolio
Premier

QuestionView source ↗

CASHLESS DEBIT CARD
66. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Premier:
I have a supplementary question.
Does the Premier think it is a coincidence that reports of alcohol-related
violence and crime are uniformly increasing across remote areas where the
cashless debit card has now been removed?

AnswerView source ↗

There are issues with alcohol, as
there always have been—always have been. It is not an easy issue to
solve. There are a lot of generational and long-term issues around alcohol in
all communities across Western Australia, whether in the city or in the
country, as we all know. As I said last week, obviously some communities have
had nothing done about it. Carnarvon is one of those. I will talk about that a bit
later. In Carnarvon, the liquor licence holders—or some of them—have
always resisted any change. Other communities around the state have
restrictions in place. Lots of Pilbara and Kimberley communities, and
goldfields communities, have restrictions in place in individual towns. Some
towns have never had that done. Clearly, if there is no voluntary activity and
a community has major issues, the government needs to take some action, and
that is what we will be doing.
The SPEAKER : That concludes
question time.

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