Justine Keay (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Whilst the member for Murray is delighted to speak on this matter, it gives me no pleasure—because this government is failing to protect vulnerable Australians. Whether it is freezing the Medicare rebate, cutting pensions, or targeting the wrong people for false debts through the government's robo-debt mess, this is a government with no heart. Whilst the minister cannot even be bothered to sit here and listen to this, I tell you what, Mr Deputy Speaker: I have got some doozies for him. If he was to listen to some of these stories, he might actually sit back and think—finally—'I should do something about this.'

My community are not leaners—as a former Liberal treasurer would describe them—but are strong, resilient people, who will work hard if given the opportunity. But you can imagine the disgust from so many in my community when this government issued notices of debt to them; notices we now know contained so many errors. People in my electorate are now questioning the legitimacy of these notices, and the amounts, but I tell you what: they are starting to feel like it is David versus Goliath, and so many of them are just giving in and paying up, because they do not have either the time or the willpower to take on what is an arduous process to get these debts removed. So far, my office has assisted three people to have their debts reversed, totalling $16,581.

One such person was Heather. Heather is a single mother who is on Newstart and works part-time. In December, right before Christmas, she received a letter from Centrelink stating she owed $7,200. She went to Centrelink and asked why. She finally got through and they said: 'If you do not enter into a payment plan, we will start deducting between $80 and $120 a week anyway.' So, being so close to Christmas, she had no choice but to enter into a payment plan of $15 a week. She went to Centrelink—on another piece of advice—to view her file. It was very clear on that file that she had one employer. But the debt notice said that she did not report her earnings for two employers—she only had the one! The officer could see it was a mistake but would do nothing about it. She went through the appeal process. She even went to a Liberal senator's office—who told her: 'It is $15 a week, don't worry about it. You have now entered into that payment plan, so you have admitted liability.' Then there is Geoff. Geoff contacted my office because he was quite distressed about getting a debt notice for $6,800. He also received an additional charge of $619.20 in debt recovery. He was so stressed that he had to go and see his GP. He did not want to try and reduce the payment plan that he had entered into, because he felt he had no other option; in fact, it only left him with $461 per fortnight. But my office received a call yesterday from Geoff to say his debt has been reduced from over $6,800 to $286. My office has been working on behalf of 10 constituents to resolve their alleged debts, totalling around $40,000. One such person is Erica, whose husband has been sent a debt letter. She acknowledges that they may have made an error in their reporting, but the debt letter alleges that he received income from an employer who he was not even working for at that time.

It would be great if members opposite could stand up in this place and defend their constituents—I am sure you have had people come to your office: actually stand up for them here, today—this is your opportunity to tell their stories. That is what we are doing; surely you can do the same. But it makes me question, is this government fraudulently and dishonestly obtaining funds from vulnerable Australians—$16,000 of debt that is not owed by the people in my electorate, so far? How much is being paid back because people feel helpless in taking on the fight, when in fact they owe nothing? The system is flawed. I call on Tasmanian Liberal senators today to support Labor's move to establish a Senate inquiry into this absolute debacle. Honest people in my electorate are being attacked, through no fault of their own, and the minister should spend his time trying to fix the mess he has created.

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