Mandurah welfare drug test plans make a comeback

The coalition reintroduced legislation into parliament on Wednesday to set up a trial in which people on welfare will be drug tested and offered treatment.

Mandurah – along with Canterbury-Bankstown in Sydney and Logan in Brisbane – is one of three locations chosen for the trial set to begin in April, if it passes the Senate.

"This program will be great for Mandurah,” Canning MP Andrew Hastie said.   

“The government's plan will help rehabilitate drug addicts and reform welfare. 

“If you’re on Newstart or Youth Allowance – which means you’re looking for work – and test positive to a random drug test, this program will pick you up. 

“People won’t lose any payments, but they will get the medical help they need to get drug free and job ready. 

“Our community needs that sort of action."

Read more: Mandurah drug tests for the dole: How will it work?

Mandurah’s participation in the trial was first announced in August with the Turnbull government originally hoping to drug test 5000 Newstart and Youth Allowance recipients across three trial sites from January.

But the government acknowledged in December it did not have the numbers in the Senate to pass it, and the trial was stripped out of a welfare reform bill.

"The community has a right to expect that taxpayer-funded welfare payments are not being used to fund drug addiction, and that job seekers do all they can to get a job," Social Services Minister Dan Tehan told parliament on Wednesday.

"We don't want our welfare system subsidising drug dealers."

The government will provide up to $10 million for additional drug and alcohol treatment support across the three sites.

There will also be $1 million for an independent, third party evaluation of the trial which Mr Tehan said would prevent "unintended consequences".

He said the proposal wasn't about penalising people with drug abuse issues.

"It is about finding new and better ways of identifying these jobseekers and ensuring they are referred to the support and treatment they need," he said.

Mr Hastie said since his first day in politics, Mandurah locals have been telling him they want action on drug abuse. 

He said the drug trial would help tackle the issue.

“We all know there’s a problem. Mandurah is a great place to live – my family love it – but that doesn’t mean there aren't issues,” he said. 

“This trial will put Mandurah on the leading edge of community drug action.

“That’s a great brand to have – a town that takes its issues seriously.

"Almost all the feedback I’ve got from locals has been positive.”

Anyone who tests positive will be shunted onto cashless welfare cards, while those who fail more than once will be referred to medical professionals for treatment.

Jobseekers who refuse a drug test will have their payments cancelled and they'll be barred from reapplying for four weeks.

“This trial stops taxpayer money going to drug dealers and provides help to people struggling with addiction. That just makes sense and people know it,” Mr Hastie said. 

“The only hurdle left now is a group of Labor, Greens and Xenophon Senators. They need to get out of the way and let us take the next step to tackling drugs abuse in Mandurah."  

Mr Tehan has urged opponents to "be brave" and back the trial.

Labor said there was no change to its opposition to the proposed laws.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale said the government hadn't consulted its own drug and alcohol advisory group about the proposal because they didn't want to hear the truth that it was cruel and wasteful.

"If the government knows that its own experts won't support its plan, why should they expect anyone else to?" Senate Di Natale said in a statement.​

-  with Australian Associated Press