As the Centrelink kerfuffle continues, criticism from the Opposition mounts and the Government continues to maintain that the system is functioning as expected, a former high-ranking department official has told The Guardian that management would have known the risks before they rolled out the automated debt recovery system.
Quick recap for the uninitiated: thousands of Australians have received letters, emails, phone calls and texts which accuse them of owing money to Centrelink, thanks to a government crackdown on illegitimate payments. But, as we elaborated in our explainer, such ‘overpayments’ are deduced using a pretty questionable crossmatch of Centrelink and ATO data which may not be accurate.
As a result, many people who do not owe money are being hassled with letters claiming they do – often thousands and thousands of dollars. MP Andrew Wilkie says his office has received more than 100 complaints about these letters:
This is a systemic problem, the harm it is causing is very broad. I’ve had people who have approached me who have been frightened, absolutely scared, people who are paying this money because they are so frightened by this very official letter. I’ve had four people now approach me in my office who I would describe as presenting as suicidal and in all those cases we’ve taken what action we thought was appropriate.
The source told The Guardian that it’s highly unlikely that this issue would not have been noted in a risk assessment, which would have crossed the Minister’s desk.
“Knowing the process, a risk assessment would have been done,” they said. “The risks would have been discussed at very senior levels. The minister would have been briefed – if he wasn’t, it would be extremely rare.”
A HR representative at a large-sized firm spoke to PEDESTRIAN.TV this week and confirmed that the incidences of employees attempting to locate payslips from up to five years ago has increased significantly, as people attempt to repudiate the claims made by the automated system.
This is probably going to get worse. The government wants to lift the six-year limit on retrievals, charge a ‘recovery fee’ – read: interest – on payments, and ban travel for those who they believe owe money.
Remember: you can head on over to #SaveMyDebt for a good procedure on what to do if you receive a letter, and to submit your story of a false claim by Centrelink.
Source: The Guardian.
Photo: Getty Images.
