Mick Palmer says Coalition’s plan would damage people who were hanging on to life ‘by the skin of their teeth’ already

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The former Australian federal police commissioner Mick Palmer has warned a plan to drug test welfare recipients will harm Australia’s most vulnerable.

“All of my experience tells me that this won’t work,” Palmer told the ABC on Wednesday.

“Really what it will do is create more damage, and most damage and most harm to those people who are most vulnerable and most in need of support and protection, which was my experience when we first responded to the tough on drugs policies under former prime minister John Howard.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Mick Palmer, right, while AFP commissioner. Photograph: Alan Porritt/AAP

The damning indictment comes as the Senate prepares to debate the measure – part of a broader welfare system overhaul – on Wednesday.

The trial involved drug testing 5,000 welfare recipients at three trial sites in south-western Sydney, Mandurah in Western Australia and Logan in Queensland.

Those who fail will first be placed on income management. A second failed test would see the individual referred for treatment and forced to cover the costs of their tests. If they fail to engage in treatment, they risk financial punishment, including the loss of welfare.

A broad range of experts and frontline drug workers have condemned the plan. They say taking a punitive approach to addiction – a health issue – has failed in the past.

Experts have also warned it will drive vulnerable people away from the welfare system to avoid testing, increasing the risk of homelessness and crime.

The head of the largest youth drug treatment program, Matt Noffs, said the approach takes Australia’s drug policy back decades, to the Reagan-era “just say no” approach to drugs. He said it would lead more people into drug dealing to support their addiction.



“That’s why this is a stupid, stupid idea that is not based on evidence but is based on someone not looking at the literature and pretending they have the answers,” Noffs said last month.

Palmer aired similar concerns. He said those who would be hurt the most were people with serious, rather than social, drug use problems. That was a group who had significant co-morbidities, including mental health issues, a history of abuse, or homelessness.

He said it would damage people who were hanging on to life “by the skin of their teeth” already.



“In almost every case, and I’ve eyeballed quite a lot of these people over the last 15 years, and had some pretty sad conversations with them... you listen to their experiences in life and you well understand why they finish up where they are,” Palmer said.

“They are the people least able to change their behaviour patterns to suit a government regulation process, they’re not going to be able to. You can’t turn on and turn off the use of drugs, like a recreational or social user may be able to, to get around the requirement.”

Other measures contained in the government’s welfare reforms include changes to the compliance regime for jobseekers, cuts to a bereavement allowance and the abolishment of wife pension payments for about 200 women living overseas.

WA criticises 'incredibly naive' plan to drug test welfare recipients in Mandurah Read more

The bill also removes “intent to claim provisions”, which protect people who are entitled to welfare but are unable to lodge a full claim due to personal circumstances.

The chances of the bill passing the Senate remain unclear.

Labor and the Greens oppose it. The Nick Xenophon Team has expressed concerns about the welfare drug testing aspect but is negotiating “in good faith” with the government.

The government has maintained the measure is a trial only and will be assessed for its effectiveness.

The social services minister, Christian Porter, said nothing like the measure had been tried before. The human services minister, Alan Tudge, said the scheme would drive behavioural change, reduce drug use and increase prospects of employment.

Palmer said he understood the good intentions of the policy. But he said it seemed “pretty stark” that it would only hurt already vulnerable people.

“To use a punitive approach to a problem that is really a very deep social one, for which there are very many causes ... can’t do anything, in my view, other than aggravate an already serious problem,” he said.

He said there was a real risk of driving people into crime to support their addictions.