The chief executive of a Shepparton-based not-for-profit organisation has highlighted the issues surrounding Centrelink’s automated data matching system and its approach to collecting alleged debts, as the issue faces a looming Senate inquiry.
Human Services Minister Alan Tudge is getting regular updates from his department on welfare recipients who are "criticising or unhappy with the system", a senate estimates committee has been told, as Centrelink staff trawl social media to keep an eye on people complaining about their treatment by the agency.
On Monday, department chiefs were interrogated about the decision to release the personal financial information of a Centrelink recipient to a journalist for an article published in The Canberra Times.
Senior bureaucrats responsible for Centrelink told Senate Estimates on Thursday that staff at the department sift through print, broadcast, and social media for individual complaints, and decide whether to report grievances to Tudge's office based on the circumstances of each case.
The Department of Human Services (DHS) has defended the release of a welfare recipient's personal and protected information to a journalist, insisting it was proportionate and legal.
The release has been criticised by the Federal Opposition and lawyers who believe it may have a chilling impact on welfare recipients who would otherwise criticise the Government.
Centrelink staff trawl social media for complaints about the welfare agency, and may escalate serious gripes to the responsible minister.
Human Services Minister Alan Tudge is getting regular updates from his department on welfare recipients who are "criticising or unhappy with the system", a senate estimates committee has been told, as Centrelink staff trawl social media to keep an eye on people complaining about their treatment by the agency.
The Federal Opposition is asking the Australian Federal Police to launch an investigation into whether Human Services Minister Alan Tudge acted illegally in releasing a Centrelink client’s private details to the media.
People pursued by Centrelink over its controversial "robo-debts" are being denied the protection of Australian consumer law, a Parliamentary inquiry has been told.
The welfare agency is exempt from laws and guidelines covering debt collection by private businesses, "even the much maligned banks", according to the chief executive of Victorian community organisation Family Care, David Tennant.
Labor has dismissed the Coalition's effort to soften its controversial Centrelink "robo-debt" policy, with an opposition frontbencher demanding a government apology for those targeted by the program.
Human Services Minister Alan Tudge announced on Tuesday evening that Centrelink, which has been sending private debt collectors to pursue debts raised under contentious data matching policy, will no longer demand payment for debts that are under review.
Yesterday evening, news.com.au once more ran a misleading story about the department’s debt recovery processes, attempting to again wrongly link it to the online compliance system. Had the department been afforded an opportunity to investigate the cases featured in the story prior to publishing, we would have quickly corrected this erroneous assumption.
