Debt letter circus
6 January 2017
Network 10
Labor calls for an investigation into Centrelink’s debt recovery scheme, calling it a disaster… but the government stands firm
VIDEO
Media
Centrelink faulted for debt tactics
6 January 2017
Australian Financial Review
Tony Barber survived a battle with cancer. But now the 29-year-old has to battle a bureaucratic nightmare after receiving a Centrelink debt notice for $4500 in the lead-up to Christmas.
Centrelink debt bungle fall out continues
6 January 2017
The Courier
A Ballarat woman has been forced to hunt down five-year-old payslips over Christmas while caring for an elderly relative in order to challenge thousands of dollars she allegedly owed to Centrelink.
Ballarat MP Catherine King’s office has seen a spike in complaints in the lead up to Christmas after the government agency mobilised an automated debt recovery system, which its own employees have said is unable to take into account intermittent or casual work.
Centrelink debt recovery system
6 January 2017
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
In 2017 we will be finalising an ongoing assessment of the privacy aspects of DHS’s Enhanced Welfare Payment Integrity — non-employment income data-matching program, as well as conducting further assessments into their data-matching activities. The results of these assessments will be made available to the public at their conclusion.
No investigation has been opened in relation to this matter by my office.
Info watchdog looking at Centrelink 'faults'
6 January 2017
SkyNews
The information watchdog is assessing Centrelink's data matching system.
Centrelink debts slashed after welfare recipients speak out in media
6 January 2017
ABC News
Centrelink has slashed the debts of two welfare recipients after they spoke out about the Federal Government's controversial $4.5 billion debt clawback program.
Ms Stilbe said she intended to the dispute the remaining debt.
'No apology' from Barnaby Joyce as government doubles down on Centrelink debt clawback
6 January 2017
SMH
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has said the government makes "no apology" for pursuing people's debts as it continues to fend off anger surrounding Centrelink's troubled $4.5 billion debt recovery mission.
Mr Joyce - the most senior government figure to weigh into the furore so far - said that social security recipients who owe the government "are not criminals" but need to settle the debts in the interest of taxpayers.
Centrelink faults 'callous': Albanese
6 January 2017
SkyNews
Labor has been critical of Centrelink faults, with frontbencher Anthony Albanese saying the government is 'callous' for hounding a Sydney cancer survivor over a false Centrelink debt.
Disability Sector Joins Calls for a Halt to Centrelink ‘Fiasco’
6 January 2017
Probono Australia
The Disabled People’s Organisations Australia, a collection of disability support and advocacy groups, has raised concerns the current debt recovery process, that uses automated data matching, is particularly unfair for people with disability.
It comes after Centrelink has come under fire for using data from the Australian Tax Office to check records about people’s income, without staff involvement or oversight.
Cancer survivor in Centrelink stress
6 January 2017
SBS
Tony Barber was shocked to receive a debt recovery notice for $4500, dating back six years to his recovery from cancer.
People Forced Onto Payment Plans While Centrelink Debts Still Under Review
6 January 2017
BuzzFeed
Curtis Dickson is paying back a $750 debt to Centrelink – but he doesn’t believe he owes them any money.
Centrelink letters slammed: ‘Vulnerable, honest people’ being hit
6 January 2017
Central Western Daily
Orange residents have been hit by Centrelink’s debt clawback scheme.
Albanese takes aim over Centrelink debt notice to cancer survivor
6 January 2017
SBS
Federal MP Anthony Albanese has joined with two of his constituents Tony Barbar and Curtis Dickson to take aim at the federal government over the new automated debt recovery system.
They are two in a growing number of cases that have emerged of people receiving written demands for money they say they do not owe.
More victims of Centrelink’s botched benefit fraud crackdown step forward
6 January 2017
Government News
Two more victims of Centrelink’s debt crackdown have emerged, as the Opposition turns the screws on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over the government’s $4.5 billion benefits clawback.
What's The #Centrelinkfail All About?
6 January 2017
Law Radio
In this episode Melissa Castan and Kate Galloway have a conversation about what caught their attention over the holiday period – mainly the question of government power exercised through the Centrelink data matching debts controversy. They explore the manner that the debt notices or ‘inquiries’ have come about, the impacts upon Centrelink customers, and whether this use of big data is a glitch, a strategy or a government policy.
AUDIO
Centrelink debt recovery shambles a potential disaster for students
6 January 2017
Newcastle University Students’ Association
The automated Centrelink Debt Recovery system has left thousands of Australian welfare recipients in crisis after a large number of inaccurate debt demands were distributed. A significant number of these vulnerable, low- income Australians that have been targeted are students.
Labor calls on Auditor General to investigate Centrelink debt disaster
6 January 2017
The Hon Linda Burney MP, Shadow Minister for Human Services, ALP Member for Barton
Labor has today called on the Australian National Audit Office to conduct an independent performance review into the Turnbull Government’s disastrous, error prone Centrelink data matching program.
The Centrelink summer
6 January 2017
The Monthly
When not just the Courier-Mail, but also other News Limited publications and A Current Affair are criticising the government for being too harsh on social security recipients, perhaps it’s time the government acknowledged how dangerous this Centrelink issue has become, and responded.
[...]
The onus is on citizens to disprove the debt at short notice, over summer holidays, using materials such as pay slips and doctor’s certificates they were never previously asked to keep. Often it’s material they’d submitted to Centrelink previously. The system by which people must register their objections and responses is completely overloaded, with phone lines jammed and IT systems groaning or simply incapable of coping with the task at hand.
Australia's big data push belongs in amateur hour
6 January 2017
IT Wire
The Australian Government's ongoing Centrelink bungle is an indication of the fact that an obsession over the use of big data to balance the budget and the ability to do so skillfully are oceans apart.
The human face of Centrelink debt debacle
6 January 2017
Anthony Albanese MP, Labor Member for Grayndler
Today I have joined with victims from my electorate of Grayndler to speak out about of the Turnbull Government’s Centrelink debt debacle.
Over the Christmas and New Year period I have been inundated with calls from constituents distressed because they have been issued debt notices and threats of debt recovery action for debts that they never incurred.
Thousands of people with disability, students, pensioners and people recovering from life threatening illnesses are being told by the Turnbull Government that the onus is on them to prove that they have not acted fraudulently.
#NotMyDebt: The Coalition's robo-debt fiasco another own goal
6 January 2017
Independent Australian
The Coalition's need to create scapegoats in a despicable effort to shore up its increasing unpopularity, has led to a savaging of Centrelink “customers” that has dramatically backfired.
Centrelink debt recovery: Labor calls on audit office to investigate controversial scheme
6 January 2017
ABC News
Labor has called on the National Audit Office to investigate Centrelink's controversial debt recovery scheme that has been criticised for mistakenly targeting vulnerable Australians.
The Government has defended the scheme — which cross references employment data from the Australian Tax Office and Centrelink — despite the Opposition claiming it was brutal and poorly designed.
Centrelink hounds cancer survivor for debt
6 January 2017
SBS
Centrelink has wrongfully harassed a Sydney cancer survivor for a $4500 debt in what Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese says is a callous move.
Centrelink investigation not opened by privacy commissioner
6 January 2017
ZD Net
After speaking with the Department of Human Services and the Australian Ombudsman, Timothy Pilgrim said he has not opened an investigation into the issue-plagued Centrelink debt recovery system.
Turnbull's former digital tsar says 'blind faith' in data led to the Centrelink debt debacle
6 January 2017
Business Insider Australia
The man the Malcolm Turnbull hired to transform the government’s digital capabilities has ripped into the Centrelink data-matching system, saying the reported 20% error rate would have already well and truly sunk a private company.