Grendel wrote on Jan 9^th, 2017 at 5:03pm:

I never ever mentioned staff cuts. Staff cuts are not the problem. A predatory attitude by the Libs and lack of manual checking has caused the problem.

Bam wrote on Jan 10^th, 2017 at 1:50pm:


Calculated thuggery by a shambles of a government. I guess they are desperate to be seen to be doing something to reduce the deficit because if we lose the 9As when the Libs are in power then they will lose their perceived “better economic managers.”

Jovial Monk wrote on Jan 9^th, 2017 at 5:17pm:

You are an idiot and or a liar as well....  staff do the manual checking you are such an idiot....

They say the agency's phone lines are clogged, queues at branches are huge and staff members are often unable to help - as in Linda Steven's case.

The NSW pensioner, who has a heart condition, was told to start paying back a non-existent debt of $8500 until her review is complete, a process that could take months.

Catherine Hehir, from Brisbane, told news.com.au she was also told to start a payment plan before her review was complete to avoid being taken to a debt collector - but unlike Linda, she refused. The 27-year-old spent a month chasing up employers from five years ago and trying to sort out the issue online and by phone.

"I couldn't imagine any pensioner, person with a disability or illness trying to manoeuvre this system," she said.
Indeed, 36-year-old Colleen McCormack, a healthcare worker from Melbourne who has had multiple surgeries and suffers with mental health issues, told news.com.au her "first thought was suicide".

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie said he had heard from countless "terrified" constituents, at least four of whom said they were suicidal. Centrelink has even been tweeting the Lifeline phone number for people in crisis as it was bombarded with complaints over the Christmas break.

But Department of Human Services general manager Hank Jongen said it was "a long-established process" to offer at-risk customers contact details for social workers and at times Lifeline, who can help when Centrelink is closed.

IT expert Justin Warren told news.com.au that human oversight had been removed from the system, leaving the burden of fixing the errors on the users.

The government's former chief digital officer Paul Shetler, who resigned in November after being hired to transform its approach to technology, told news.com.au "the root cause of these failures is a deskilled public service that doesn't understand - and sometimes fears - 21st century technology."

But Social Services Minister Christian Porter said the system was "working as intended". The government has announced it will claw back $400 million in unemployment benefit overpayments through the review process, despite calls from Labor for the system to be suspended while the problems are fixed.

Mr Porter said 20 per cent of review letters were sent to people who did not owe anything but these were not debt letters and only asked for more information to explain a discrepancy between employment data held by Centrelink and the ATO.

"The rate of error is measured in terms of finally issued debts being raised but overturned and present indications are that this will be less than 1.6 per cent," he told news.com.au in a statement.

"If there is a difference between the information reported to Centrelink and the information reported to the ATO the government owes an obligation to the Australian taxpayer to seek clarification.

"This is critical to ensuring the integrity of the welfare system.

"The decision-making rules used to identify noncompliance and identify debt after explanations have been received are well established and have not been altered in the automated system."

As for James, he's "lucky" he had someone close to him to help, says Tamara. "Otherwise he'd just have paid the money. His head would have just spun and he would have withdrawn from society.

"People with a severe mental illness won't reach out to services. They'll stay in their box, harm themselves, withdraw. The government is targeting vulnerable people who don't have the capacity to deal with it."

Poor roach, trying to defend hios beloved Libs even in the face of evidence.

Like with Longy and his lies about FTTN I should feel sorry for roach I suppose but I only feel amusement at silly fanbois flying in the face of all evidence. 

Human services minister Alan Tudge, who has now returned from leave, issued a statement on Tuesday defending the system.

Tudge said Centrelink had been using data-matching for years, and all it had done was make it more automated.

“The only major change is that it is more automated so we can complete more checks,” he said. “Where there is a discrepancy between the tax office information and the self-reported Centrelink information, a notice requesting clarification is sent to the welfare recipient.”

“It is only after the recipient has clarified the discrepancy or ignored the notice, that any debt may be calculated.”

He said individuals can call Centrelink’s phone lines for assistance at any point. Those phone systems have seen lengthy wait times, and an audit in 2015 found almost a quarter went unanswered.

Tudge said individuals were given at least three opportunities to ensure their employment income was accurate.

“Firstly when the request for information is sent, secondly they can request a review of any debt that is raised, and finally by appeal to a tribunal,” he said. “Labor is demanding we cease a process that has successfully recovered over $300m of incorrectly paid taxpayer’s money since July and, frankly, I don’t think many taxpayers would support that call.”

Labor’s Linda Burney continued to criticise the system on Tuesday, saying it must be suspended.

“Sending out 20,000 letters a week, potentially 4,000 of those letters are mistakes, is crazy,” she said. “It is not the way in which public policy should be exercised.”

She described Centrelink as “at breaking point”, and said its staff were being put under immense pressure and were not to blame for the government’s “cash grab”.

When asked whether Labor would support a Senate inquiry, Burney said she had already referred the issue to the auditor general, and highlighted the recently initiated commonwealth ombudsman investigation.

She said she expected to receive communications from the auditor general next week.

Tull said CPSU members tasked with reviewing cases had found serious problems with the debt recovery system.

“We have members in Centrelink who’ve been tasked with reviewing cases through this scheme saying in almost every case the poor customer ends up owing nothing, or just a fraction of the debt claimed,” he said.

“In at least one case an initial debt for $9,000 ended up being $90. That’s not a minor discrepancy but a clear sign of a failed system.”

That accords with the recent story of a Centrelink compliance officer, who told Guardian Australia that of the hundreds of disputed cases reviewed, only about 20 were legitimate debts.