If you want to set western Sydney back 20 years, if you want to turn the Canterbury-Bankstown region into the Cabramatta of the 90s, support welfare drug testing.

There is a reason Australia has the second best health system in the developed world, while a country like the USA languishes last. It's the same reason we are the second richest nation in the world – we take care of our own.

The USA has a highly flawed health system that sees it lag behind comparable countries in life expectancy and disease burden, and when we consider the American health system locks out so many – particularly the disadvantaged and marginalised – from adequate health coverage and insurance, we understand why.

The poor in the US are disadvantaged even further with drug testing. It prevents them from accessing some of the most basic services, including food stamps, even though evidence shows they don't use drugs at substantially higher rates than other demographics