The federal government has been urged to stop unfairly stinging welfare recipients with a 10% “debt recovery fee”, a practice the human services minister, Alan Tudge, said was news to him when asked about it.
Centrelink is in the midst of a major push to retrieve welfare debts from low-income Australians, using an automated system to detect possible overpayments.
Roughly 20,000 letters are being sent to welfare recipients a week, telling them a discrepancy had been detected and demanding they justify their receipt of benefits from up to six years ago.
Those targeted are being threatened with a 10% debt recovery fee if they don’t respond but many have told Guardian Australia that they are not receiving letters, because they have changed address.