Malcolm Turnbull has defended plans to drug test welfare recipients and withhold cash payments if they test positive.
Appearing on The Project on Sunday, the Prime Minister stood by the controversial trial saying he was fed up with Australian tax dollars paying for welfare recipients’ drug habits.
‘Frankly, do you really want your taxes being spent on drugs? I don’t,’ he said.
Appearing on The Project on Sunday, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (pictured) stood by the controversial trial
‘I don’t want welfare money being spent on drugs. It’s not fair to the taxpayer and absolutely not fair or helpful to the person on welfare.
‘Let’s face it – if you love somebody and they’re on drugs, what do you want them to do? You want them to get off drugs.
‘If you love somebody and they’re unemployed, what do you want them to do? You want them to get a job.’
Welfare recipients across Australia will be randomly tested for drugs from the start of 2018 as part of the Turnbull Government’s plan to shift unemployed people with drug problems back into the workforce.
The government’s two-year trial will test about 5000 people in three drug hot-spots across the country.
Speaking to the panel on The Sunday Project, Mr Turnbull said it wasn’t fair to taxpayers or welfare recipients to sit back and do nothing
Welfare recipients across Australia will be randomly tested for drugs from the start of 2018 as part of the Turnbull Government’s plan to shift unemployed people with drug problems back into the workforce
The government’s two-year trial will test about 5000 people in three drug hot-spots across the country
Mr Turnbull stood by the trial, which has been at the centre of heated debate between medical professionals and politicians.
‘(Medical experts) don’t know if it’s going to work, it’s a trial,’ he said.
‘Everyone says the government should do new things, well we’re doing that.
On Sunday the government named Mandurah in Western Australia as the third site the drug testing trial would be rolled out.
Mandurah will join western Sydney and Logan in Queensland.
Under the scheme, recipients who test positive for drugs will have 80 per cent of their benefits put onto a Basics Card which puts a limit on the amount of money that person can withdraw as cash.
The Basics Card would reserve 80 percent of the payments for essential costs including rent, food and childcare.
Recipients who test positive to drugs will have 80 per cent of their benefits put onto a Basics Card which puts a limit on the amount of money that person can withdraw as cash