Face of Nation : West Australian based community groups have on Friday faced federal parliament’s inquiry into Centrelink’s welfare payment recovery program.
The study from July this year also found that some single mothers stayed or re-connected with violent partners rather than struggling alone to meet family needs, often on minimal or highly conditional financial support.
Ms Jackson said she raised the point about clients having complex lives as Centrelink’s compliance system didn’t exist in a bubble. “Government needs to take greater responsibility for the justice impacts, or the flow-on impacts of things like its compliance system,” she said.
The 26 community legal centres in WA’s networks turn away as many people as they help due to limited resources, she said. Robo-debt is expected to cost more than $500 million over the next three years, for a benefit of $2 billion to the federal budget.
The scheme matches tax office and Centrelink data to claw back overpaid welfare payments. People are contacted if Centrelink thinks they might owe more than $1000. The government has admitted about one-fifth of initial letters included information that was later proved to be wrong.
The department disputes the characterisation of such letters being called debt notices. The Commonwealth Ombudsman told senators that while they were not “technically” debt notices, he understood how some people receiving them would consider them one. “I can appreciate that there might be some circumstances when people get that letter and think: Oh my goodness, I’m being hit with a debt,” he told the hearing in Canberra.
