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The government decided to ditch it’s hard-working employers at the Department of Human Services who managed debts owed to Centrelink, despite their warnings that switching to an automated computer system would end in disaster.
Sure enough, it wasn’t long before Centrelink was sending out letters and hounding people for money they simply did not have thanks to a glitch in the system.

“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.

The National Foundation for Australian Women is profoundly concerned by the Ministerially approved processes for so-called debt-recovery from Centrelink clients, and calls on the Government to cease using the process pending receipt of a report from the Commonwealth Ombudsman.

Staff inside the Centrelink unit responsible for income reviews and eligibility assessments warned officials from the Department of Human Services that automated data matching would lead to incorrect debts being issued to low-income and vulnerable Australians, an insider has revealed.

Centrelink staff will not be able to cope in an expected “perfect storm” of customer enquiries arising out of the debt data-matching scandal, the union representing public service workers has warned.
The Community & Public Sector Union has demanded the federal government immediately suspend the automated big data system, which in the past week has been hammered for its lack of accuracy in determining debts.
“This scheme is an absolute nightmare for thousands of Centrelink customers who’ve done absolutely nothing wrong, and the staff who are bearing the brunt of this mess,” said CPSU assistant national secretary Michael Tull.

Melbourne barrister and spokesperson for Australian Lawyers Alliance Greg Barns told Daily Mail Australia in some cases Centrelink may have breached its duty of care to customers.

The main public service union has warned Centrelink and Medicare staff are "desperately overstretched" and struggling to cope with the public backlash over a flawed debt recovery scheme.
The warning comes after the man hand-picked by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to lead digital projects said the public services needed "radical upskilling" to deliver services.

The federal government continues to back its highly controversial automated Centrelink debt recovery system despite heavy criticism and digital transformation heavyweight Paul Shetler labelling it “appalling”.

Senate documents show the agency doesn't keep data on underpayments.
PAYWALL

There is a dark irony in the fact that many of those who have been hit by Centrelink's automated debt recovery debacle are on benefits in the first place because automation is dramatically changing the face of work, making it harder for many people to find secure, paid employment.
While the still-unfolding event is a political mess for the Turnbull government, and a personal tragedy for those caught up in it, it's important that we reflect on what it means for how our politics deals with welfare and work.

The Australian Greens are calling for the Government’s automated debt recovery system to be scrapped and investigated through a senate inquiry.