Greens Senator Rachel Siewert responds to Government leaking Centrelink recipient details to media

2017-02-28

“It is extremely concerning that the Government has willingly and openly given media the personal details of a Centrelink recipient and will do so again to those who dare to speak out about the automated debt recovery system.

"This has huge implications for the privacy of those on income support and receiving other payments from Government.

“The effort the Government has put into 'correcting the record' for media should go to correcting thousands of incorrect debts.

“It says a lot that the Department would rather attack the messenger than address the serious issues raised.

“I will be challenging this awful and intimidating tactic in estimates on Thursday. I will also be pursuing this further in the Centrelink inquiry next week. The inquiry has come at a good time – the Government is using brazen tactics to try to stop people speaking out.