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Alan Tudge says Centrelink may check letters received before debt imposed

11 January 2017
Guardian

Alan Tudge says he may attempt to change the law to ensure letters being sent by Centrelink’s controversial automated debt system are actually being received before a debt is imposed.
The human services minister, speaking with Guardian Australia on Wednesday, continued to defend the controversial debt recovery system, which has been the subject of repeated complaints accusing it of inaccuracy and unfairness.
But he said he was looking at changes to ensure initial letters demanding welfare recipients explain income discrepancies were actually being received before debts were imposed.

Inside a Centrelink office: Chaos at branch as system flounders

10 January 2017
Herald Sun

“Centrelink is letting me die,” reads graffiti scrawled on the wall of the disabled toilet at a branch in Sydney’s inner west.
That’s the perception of some Australians trying to negotiate a benefits system that appears seriously flawed, where letters slamming people with bogus debts of thousands of dollars were widely distributed over the Christmas period.

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