Shorten must urgently pause “debt” collection to implement reforms following Robodebt report
Shorten must urgently pause “debt” collection to implement reforms following Robodebt report
More stress, more physical and psychological harm and more suicides will come from the Albanese government's aggressive pursuit of welfare recipients
The harm done to every person who received a Robodebt – large or small – must never be repeated.
The Robodebt royal commission report highlights the shameful state of the social security system. We extend solidarity to every person affected by the scheme.
Below: debt help and crisis line contact information, Centrelink debt statistics, quotes from Antipoverty Centre spokesperson and proposals for new overpayment handling practices.
The structural problems that enabled Robodebt continue to this day under policies supported by both Labor and the Coalition: extreme targeting in the welfare system, negative attitudes towards welfare recipients, governments’ desire to use us for budget savings and under-resourcing at Centrelink.
There is no credible response to the Robodebt royal commission that involves continuing current “debt” collection practices. There is no humane way to extract money from people living in poverty who cannot afford the basics.
On 17 June 2022, in response to ministers Amanda Rishworth and Bill Shorten announcing they would aggressively pursue welfare recipients over so-called “debts” that the Coalition seemingly delayed until after the election, the Antipoverty Centre said: “We demand the government stop demonising us by implying there is widespread deception in the social security system.”
The royal commission report echoes this call:
“Politicians need to lead a change in social attitudes to people receiving
welfare payments. The evidence before the Commission was that fraud in the welfare system was miniscule, but that is not the impression one would get from what ministers responsible for social security payments have said over the years. Anti-welfare rhetoric is easy populism, useful for campaign purposes. It is not recent, nor is it confined to one side of politics,” – Robodebt Royal Commissioner Catherine Holmes AC SC
The Antipoverty Centre calls on the government to immediately suspend Centrelink debt collection activity and work with us on reforms to ensure no one is harmed by recoupment practices.
Media contact: 0413 261 362 / media at antipovertycentre.org
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Background
In June 2022 the Albanese government claimed 1 in 5 people received an incorrect JobSeeker payment, implying they believe there is mass fraud in the welfare system.
The Services Australia annual report says fraud and corruption detection activity led to 709 criminal investigations, 988 administrative investigations and 203 referrals to the CDPP. Twenty-five criminal investigations completed resulting in 8 referrals to the CDPP and $8.9 million recovered in debt.
In December Services Australia advised they are currently pursuing more than 1 million people for debts worth $5 billion in response to a senate estimates question on notice. This included debts dating back to 1979.
Urgent and medium-term reforms to handling Centrelink overpayments
So-called debts are generally due to errors in the system or unfair, confusing rules. No one in poverty should be forced to repay Centrelink for money paid out by mistake. The government must stop treating accounting and administrative errors that lead to overpayments as cause for punishment and abandon its punitive debt recovery approach.
No one living in poverty has capacity to absorb an income cut. A lawful “debt” is rarely a fair debt.
We call on the government to make the following changes:
Immediately pause debt raising and collection activities until safe processes for recovering overpayments are implemented.
Remove unfair and confusing rules, simplify and improve reporting processes, and adequately staff Centrelink to remove factors that contribute to payment errors.
Replace the current debt collection unit with a team that is responsible for ensuring accurate payments were made, including identifying and rectifying underpayments.
Limit the period over which Centrelink is able to recover debts to 6 years, as it was until 1 January 2017, and apply the same time period for backpaying underpayments (currently 13 weeks).
Change Centrelink processes to actively identify when a person qualifies for a debt to be waived under the social security act.
Comply with the ACCC and ASIC Debt collection guideline for collectors and creditors, which lists unemployment as an example of reasons not to harass people for debts.
Where an amount needs to be repaid, this should operate similar to HECS-HELP where repayments are deferred until a person has a liveable income. If the government is concerned the person may never have a liveable income they should make welfare payments liveable.
For background, read the Antipoverty Centre submission to the senate inquiry into the extent and nature of poverty here:
Quotes attributable to Antipoverty Centre spokesperson and welfare recipient Kristin O'Connell:
“We extend our solidarity to every Robodebt victim and everyone whose life has been affected by Centrelink recouping funds from those of us who can least afford it. We congratulate the incredible activists who fought the program for years.
“The harm done by Robodebt was not caused by an algorithm or even its unlawfulness. Labor’s decision to ramp up debt collection without strong protections is a decision to risk killing people and is already causing untold harm.
“The media must not fail welfare recipients now as they did when activists led by Not My Debt were raising the alarm long before any politician took an interest in Robodebt.
“Issuing debts to poor people is dangerous and harmful, accurate or otherwise. It only brings more of the horrifying outcomes already produced by abhorrently low payment levels: distress, hunger, homelessness and suicide.
“The government must immediately cease raising and pursuing Centrelink debts until a safe system can be designed that does not recover money from people who can’t afford to live.
“We call on the government to urgently pause Centrelink debt collection and work with us to implement meaningful changes that would genuinely protect people in poverty from harm caused by the current approach to overpayments.
“Every person affected by robodebt, no matter the sum they were pursued over, deserves justice. And so does everyone else who’s been issued with a debt notice they couldn’t afford to pay.”
Get help if you receive a Centrelink debt notice
If you receive a debt notice immediately contact a welfare rights community legal centre. It’s free and you can find the relevant legal centre in your area on the Economic Justice Australia website.
Although Robodebt has ended, many debt notices issued are inaccurate. Even if you receive an accurate debt, it can be waived in certain circumstances, including: “the physical and emotional state of the person together with their decision-making capacity and financial circumstances…”. You can find more information about debt waivers here.
The ACCC and ASIC debt collection guideline lists unemployment and low income as reasons a debt collector should not continue pursuing a person. You can find the guideline here.
Crisis support and counselling services
If you need support you can seek guidance, counselling or crisis help from the below organisations or talk to someone you trust.
Suicide Call Back Service – general: 1300 659 467
SANE Australia – general: 1800 187 263
13YARN – for First Nations people: 13 92 76
National Counselling and Referral Service – for disabled people: 1800 421 468
Headspace – for young people: 1800 650 890
QLife – fo LGBTQIA+ people: 1800 184 527
Full Stop – for people who have experienced sexual harassment and assault: 1800 385 578
Embrace Mental Health – multilingual service: embracementalhealth.org.au
MensLine – for men: 1300 789 978
Brother to Brother – for First Nations men: 1800 435 799
About the Antipoverty Centre
The Antipoverty Centre was established in May 2021 by people living on Centrelink payments to counter problems with academics, think tanks and others in the political class making harmful decisions on behalf of people they purport to represent.
We have deep expertise in poverty, disadvantage and unemployment, because we live it. Our goal is to help ensure the voices and rights of people living in poverty are at the centre of social policy development and discourse. We believe there should be no decision made about us without us.
The Antipoverty Centre is not aligned with any political party and does not accept funding that places political constraints on our work.
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