The Government giving a ‘facelift’ to the broken automated debt recovery system is just an attempt to quell political backlash and should be viewed as such, Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said today.
Centrelink's automated debt-recovery program is likely to face a Senate inquiry, with Labor vowing to move a motion when Parliament returns next month.
One Nation senator Brian Burston has labelled Centrelink's contentious debt-recovery system "malicious and bordering on the criminal", adding Pauline Hanson's party to the chorus of concern surrounding the automated clawback.
Disability advocates have put further pressure on the government to suspend its automated debt recovery system, while Centrelink continues to refer distressed and suicidal individuals to Lifeline.
Disabled People’s Organisations Australia, a collection of disability support and advocacy groups, has called on the government to immediately halt the recovery process, which has relied on a crude and automated data-matching process to begin chasing 169,000 debts from welfare recipients since July.
The current Centrelink debt fiasco is, sadly, measuring up as a human disaster. There are now too many frightening examples of letters and subsequent poor treatment of individuals trying to prove their innocence.
We asked all MPs and senators whether they had ever interacted with Centrelink. Many Labor and Greens members gave us interesting answers -- and we got bupkis from the Coalition.
PAYWALL
Minister Alan Tudge refusing to suspend or scrap the automated debt recovery system demonstrates a huge failing to comprehend the struggles and distress that the program has caused to people accessing the social safety net, Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said today.
Centrelink's controversial debt recovery system should be immediately suspended, say Tasmanian MPs who have been inundated with complaints about debt notices.
Independent Denison MP Andrew Wilkie and Labor MP Julie Collins have called for the system to be put on hold following an uproar about inaccurate notices.
This is how the Turnbull Government says “Merry Christmas” to some vulnerable Australians.
The computer errors may be the result of bungling but the vilification and denigration of poorer Australians is a deliberate political tactic.
Centrelink has removed advice telling welfare recipients they only needed to keep payslips for six months, which conflicted with the government’s efforts to claw back debts from up to six years ago.
