Dodgy welfare penalties must end, Greens urge Labor after second damning report in two weeks   
2025-08-15
greens.org.au
The Greens are urging Labor to avoid a second Robodebt-scale scandal by stopping all welfare payment suspensions immediately, following the release of a second damning report into the welfare system in two weeks.

The Deloitte report, released late yesterday, shows widespread legal and technical failures in the system responsible for the accurate administration of income support payments.

This is the second report in two weeks to smash the welfare compliance system, after a damning Commonwealth Ombudsman’s report that found over 1,000 welfare recipients had their welfare payments unlawfully cancelled by the automated system over two years.

While Labor has paused all cancellations and reductions of payments under the compliance scheme, tens of thousands of welfare recipients are still subject to harmful payment suspensions each month. Nearly 350,000 payment suspensions were issued in the first quarter of 2025, from roughly 800,000 welfare recipients who had compliance requirements during that period.1

The government excluded payment suspensions from the scope of the Deloitte review, but they will be considered by the Commonwealth Ombudsman in a further volume later this year.

The Greens have called on Labor to stop these welfare payment suspensions immediately, a call which has been echoed by a broad coalition of community groups including the Anti-Poverty Center, Economic Justice Australia and the Australian Council of Social Services.

Lines from Senator Penny Allman-Payne, Greens spokesperson for Social Services:

“Labor doesn’t seem to care if people on income support get the payments they need to make ends meet or not.”

“Hundreds of thousands of people are losing access to vital payments that they need to put food on the table - all because of a system flooded with inaccuracies that treats ordinary income support recipients like criminals.”

“Can the Employment Minister hold her hand on her heart and say that over 100,000 payment suspension penalties issued against welfare recipients each month are accurate? Are they lawful? Are they fair?”

“Robodebt showed us that automated systems can’t be trusted with peoples lives, and nor can so-called employment service providers who profit out of peoples poverty.”

“Clearly this system has not been fixed since Robodebt. And while Minister Rishworth hides behind Department officials, income support recipients are unfairly losing payments they need to put food on the table and keep a roof over their head.”

“Labor can’t wait for another report - they need to end payment suspensions right now.”

Key findings from the Deloitte report:

The Deloitte review confirmed legal issues in the system, stating that “legal and evidentiary basis for compliance actions [...] cannot be consistently documented, verified, or reconciled with legislative provisions or policy intent.” (p8)

It describes a system where “errors and noncompliance may go undetected, and where systemic issues are not reliably escalated or addressed” (p10).

Despite the passing of new laws requiring the use of discretion when pursuing welfare debts, the report found “no records were available to demonstrate compliance with this requirement.” (p9)

The Deloitte review demonstrates that the Government has for years shown disinterest in meeting their legal obligations and avoiding undue harm to welfare recipients in keeping with the recommendations of the Robodebt Royal Commission.

The number of working-age Australians relying on welfare payments has surged to almost 1.4 million, as the Albanese government manages an increasing share of young men and women who are considered unable to work.

Amid concerns about the rising number of younger Australians shifting on to JobSeeker and Youth Allowance (Other) payments, government data shows 733,700 people aged 15 years and over were permanently unable to work, including 36,700 males aged between 25 and 34.

Despite the historically low unemployment rate of 4.3 per cent and near-record high participation rates, The Australian can reveal an additional 122,000 people aged under 34 have moved on to welfare payments since the May 2022 election.

For males aged 25 to 34, mental health and substance-use disorders now account for the largest share of disease burden, accounting for 37.9 per cent in 2024, which marked a dramatic spike compared with 2003.

That compares with similar conditions for the total population aged 15 to 64, which came in at 25 per cent.