2018-02-15
One in six robo-debts being wiped or changed in the first year shows that the program continues to be a disaster, Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said today.
“This time last year the Government was under immense media scrutiny for the rollout of their Centrelink robo-debt program, which was causing a lot of harm and distress to vulnerable members of the community. Although the lime-light is no longer on the program, Australians continue to be issued false debts.
“Changes to the system, particularly removing the human element of checking debts resulted in a myriad of false debts, with the onus on the income support recipients to disprove the debt. It has caused an immense amount of pressure on people we should be supporting and it should never have happened.
“One in six debts being wiped or changed in the first year shows a major systemic problem. The Government needs to put in place a process that does not catch up innocent people and cause huge distress and anxiety to so many”.