By political reporters Henry Belot and Ashlynne McGhee
The Federal Government will introduce changes to Centrelink’s controversial debt recovery program, despite insisting it is working and dismissing calls for its suspension.
The automated program — which compares Centrelink and Australian Taxation Office records — has issued 170,000 notifications since July with thousands of Australians incorrectly told they have outstanding debts.
After weeks of public criticism, Human Services Minister Alan Tudge has told his department to ensure welfare recipients can launch an internal review of their payments before debt proceedings are launched.
Disability pensioner Justin Burns last week told the ABC he disputed his debt and requested a review, but was still being forced to pay $40 a fortnight from his pension to repay the debt while the review was underway.
“I have had to borrow money off my parents, I have had to borrow money off my friends,” he said.
“I thought, ‘Holy, you know what, I don’t believe I owe this money at all’.”
Mr Tudge will also ensure Centrelink clients are informed of discrepancies in their accounts before being contacted by debt collectors.
“One of the issues has been that on some occasions, the address that Centrelink has on file hasn’t been updated, so the first a person might hear about this is when there is a debt collector on their doorstop,” Mr Tudge told 2GB radio on Monday.
“We are fixing that problem by ensuring that we use multiple different addresses, including a person’s electoral roll address, to ensure they do get that letter and do get that opportunity to update their records.”
Letters will now be sent by registered mail so Centrelink can track whether they have been received.
Top Comments
“I’m not aware of individuals who are completely convinced that they don’t owe money but have been given a debt notice.”
I know one. My co-worker. The data matching system decided that she had worked from July 2015 except she started in January 2016. She received a letter that she owed $12,000. She was absolutely distraught. While she knows what the issue is and the staff at the local office have said that no she doesn't owe anything it is still showing on their system and she has now received a letter from a debt collector. I really hope that it gets sorted out for her soon.
I am not sure how he can even justify making such a statement. From what I've read there are hundreds if not thousands of people who have received these notices who do not owe a debt.
One of my co-workers recently lodged his tax return late. He wasn't aware that a debt had been raised against him, and having moved house a few times since uni, he never received any kind of notice. When he received his notice of assessment, however, it became apparent that almost $3000 had been taken to pay off a centrelink "debt". Same story, he'd only worked sporadically throughout the year (including a fulltime internship over the summer) and they had averaged his wages across the whole year.
Now he is fighting with centrelink to have the money returned. Who know whether this will happen..! Though the people he has spoken to are in agreement than he should not have owed anything.
Frightening to think they can just take your money, when the system is so evidently flawed.
To get mine cleared I had to go back to my old employer and have all of my payslips resent. If she only started in Jan then a letter from her employer or her payment summary for that year should show that. Must admit after entering all of my payslips I got a recalculation that said that I still owed some money and so when I saw the data why could argue logically why it should be waived. Have only just been told that I now have zero debt.
Jesus, this government can't even hand out other people's money correctly. Something to think about as you're sitting in Hoodle Street gridlock looking at the public housing Towers with all the shades down because it's just too early to get up.