Media

As the federal government continues to tout its automated Centrelink debt recovery system as 'working well', independent politician Andrew Wilkie has called on the Commonwealth Ombudsman to investigate the 'flawed' process.

Asylum-seekers on temporary visas have been caught up in the federal government’s $4 billion welfare debt recovery controv­ersy, with some being told they owe thousands in allegedly overpaid money and risk their future residency if they don’t give it back.

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has asked the Commonwealth Ombudsman to investigate faults with Centrelink's new automated data matching system after receiving more than 100 complaints to his electoral office about problems with the debt recovery process.
"The government has terrified countless people, ruined the Christmases of many and even driven some people to contemplate taking their own lives," Mr Wilkie said in a statement. [...] "You don't have to be a genius to tell that taking someone's yearly income and dividing by 26 is not always going to produce accurate results if only because people's circumstances change," he said.

The Centrelink debacle is getting worse, with more Australians each day revealing they have been slugged with demands to pay back tens of thousands of dollars they don’t owe.
Furious Aussies, many of whom were on the dole for only a brief period years ago, are demanding action from the Government, which is denying a problem exists.

Autism Australia head says her son almost paid $3,000 to a debt recovery firm when he did not owe Centrelink anything

The federal government has vowed to extend its program to recover $4 billion in welfare debts from almost two million Australians despite admitting to “small instances” where people are being asked to refund money they do not owe.
Social Services Minister Christian Porter declared the program to be working so well it would be ramped up over the next four years, as he ridiculed Labor demands to suspend it in order to stop the false claims for refunds.

Legal aid services have been inundated with calls from people being chased by Centrelink with debt recovery notices.
VIDEO

Social Services Minister Christian Porter has praised the big data welfare initiative he labelled the "single most important thing" he will do this parliamentary term, as Labor claims Australians are being hounded for false debts.

The social services minister has defended Centrelink’s “polite” debt letters generated by a new automated system amid criticism some welfare recipients have been hounded over false debts.
Christian Porter confirmed so far this financial year 169,000 review letters have been sent out, indicating there might be discrepancies after data from different agencies is matched up.

"These are not debt letters. These are letters that use automated cross-referencing information from the ATO to information received at Centrelink, which shows there might be a discrepancy," he said.
"The complaint rate is running at 0.16 per cent. That's only 276 complaints from those 169,000 letters. That process has raised $300 million worth of money back to the taxpayer which was overpaid. From what we've seen in a high volume system it's actually working incredibly well."

The government's today defending its efforts to recoup the overpayment of Centrelink benefits to welfare recipients - saying the program's working well despite isolated complaints.
But the opposition says that doesn't tally with a wave of complaints flooding into politicians' offices across the country from angry and frustrated Centrelink clients who feel they've been duped.
AUDIO