Senator REYNOLDS (Western Australia) (17:39): I thought I had heard it all in this place but today, in debate on this motion, both Labor and the Greens argued against supporting the opposition's call for a royal commission into child sex abuse in Indigenous communities, audit spending on Indigenous programs and support practical policy ideas to improve the lives of Indigenous Australians. I have now heard it all. Those opposite cannot support a royal commission into this most fundamentally important issue. Despite the Prime Minister saying, 'Oh yes, I've listened, I've learned and I accept responsibility,' clearly you have not. Over 60 per cent of Australians have clearly said your proposal for a top-down voice was not suitable. Clearly, we need a new approach. I could not believe my ears when Senator Cox stood up and basically said, 'No, she's alright; we don't need a royal commission into this.' I think that is outrageous. Se nator Cox: I would ask Senator Reynolds to withdraw her comment. She is making another personal reflection, which is completely rejected. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator McGrath ): Senator Cox has asked you to withdraw. Senator REYNOLDS: If it assists, I will withdraw and I will rephrase it—opposed a royal commission into child sexual abuse. The writers of Utopia would not have dreamed of something as obscene as the debate now occurring in this place. The great hypocrisy was Western Australian voters have seen through those opposite, because the great hypocrisy is, you are talking about a voice. Well, I tell you what. What is the point of having a voice if you do not listen? For the last 12 months in Western Australia, we have had a conga line of local communities—you know this, Senator Cox—coming here and begging to retain the cashless debit card. These are local communities who wanted the card, who had positive results. They came here to the Prime Minister begging those opposite to keep this card and it fell on completely deaf ears. So the irony of you talking about a voice and then not listening when local community leaders come here is absolutely shameless and devastating for the local communities. Let me remind you of the things that you refused to listen to and what leaders from our local communities have said. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator McKim, a point of order? Senator McKim: Senator Reynolds is continually gesticulating and looking at this side of the chamber and using the word 'you'. I ask you to require that she direct her comments to you as the chair. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Reynolds, direct any comments through the chair, please. I don't think the use of hands is against the standing orders, but any comments should certainly be through the chair. Senator REYNOLDS: Even the ABC acknowledged why they were doing it. The ABC said, 'The now Labor government philosophically opposes compulsory income management in most circumstances.' There you go. Your philosophical left say, 'We don't agree with this.' Paternalism in action is alive and well and the name is Labor. What did some of the local leaders from Western Australia say when they begged you to keep the card? 'Local leaders in East Kimberley say the removal of the card had coincided with a surge in alcohol-fuelled violence and antisocial behaviour. … Wyndham East Kimberley Shire president, David Menzel, said frontline workers and Indigenous agencies had raised concerns with him of about the abrupt change. "Disruption to people's way of life, quite a demand for food for kids. There have been increased sales in high-alcohol content drinks.'" What did the President of the Shire of Laverton say? He said, 'The lack of consultation is profound on the government's behalf and the words and the rhetoric do not bode well for the future of Laverton. As local governments do, we will pick up the pieces with other state government agencies. The CDC has brought sanity to people's lives. Most of the spending allocation is to purchase food and other essentials in life for women, children and the elderly.' Yet you did not listen. Big Brother—big paternalist brother, thy name is Labor and the Greens—knew better and didn't listen to local communities. What did Ian Trust, the director of the amazing Wunan Foundation in Kununurra, who knows about this firsthand, say? He said that the cashless debit card had reduced alcohol violence and the harassment of the elderly and vulnerable for cash when they go to the AGM. He said that it wasn't a silver bullet but it was something we could build on and something the local community in Kununurra wanted. So it goes on and on. Senator Nampijinpa Price knows only too well the consequences that your paternalism and your not listening to local communities have had for her community in Alice Springs and right across the Territory. So please never come and lecture us on any moral issue again, because the fact is that you are stopping a royal commission into child sex— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator McGrath ): Thank you, Senator Reynolds. The PRESIDENT: The question is that the matter of urgency moved by Senator Nampijinpa Price be agreed to.