In their latest attempt to claw back some of the estimated $800 million in overpaid or fraudulently obtained welfare benefits, the federal government has begun slapping travel bans on Australians who attempt to leave the country with an outstanding welfare debts.
So-called Departure Prohibition Orders are typically placed on people who are behind in their child support payments, but their use has been expanded in recent months, and more than 20 people have bee stopped at airports in the latest crackdown.
Human Services Minister Michael Keenan said that there are an estimated 150,000 people nation-wide with outstanding welfare debts, adding:
“[If] you go to the airport, and you owe us, say, a couple of thousand dollars, or tens of thousands of dollars, then we don’t believe that you should be able to go on an overseas holiday, for example, if you owe us money because you’ve got overpayments from the welfare system … We will stop you from doing that, and that use has already saved us significant sums of money.”
Keenan went on to stress that you won’t just be stopped out of the blue, and that the travel bans will only affect those with significant debts that the government has already tried to recoup. It is also understood that those targeted by controversial Centrelink “robo calls” will not be affected.
The Minister claimed that the travel bans will only be a “last resort” in fairly extreme cases, saying of those who have been caught so far:
“We’ve tried every possible way to get them to repay that money, or to start to repay that money, to enter into a plan to repay that money, but they’ve completely ignored us … We would’ve contacted them on multiple occasions – phone calls, letters and emails, and they would’ve completely ignored us.”
Those already caught up include a NSW resident with a $10,000 debt and a Victorian owing $60,000 – reportedly, both have since entered into repayment plans for these debts.
