Flawed Centrelink debt recovery system 'bringing some to the brink of suicide': Andrew Wilkie

Centrelink's contentious debt recovery system is making some of the targeted people feel suicidal, independent MP Andrew Wilkie has claimed, as the furore over the clawback persists despite the government's insistence it is working exceptionally well.

The Tasmanian MP said the Commonwealth Ombudsman had agreed to his request to investigate the matter, which has come under criticism from the Labor Party and others for targeting some innocent recipients of social security payments with a flawed data-matching calculation, sometimes years after payments had been received.