Linda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to move the following motion:

That the House:

(1) notes:

(a) the Government has released highly confidential personal information of Centrelink customers to the media as part of a vindictive political campaign to punish some of Australia's most vulnerable people for speaking out against the Government's robo-debt mess; and

(b) there are serious questions about the legality of the Government's actions and whether they constitute breaches of the Privacy Act;

(2) calls on the Minister for Human Services to attend the House to provide a full account of the:

(a) specific provision of the Privacy Act or any other legislation that the Government claims gives it the legal right to release this highly confidential personal information to the media; and

(b) involvement of himself, his office, his Department and Centrelink in releasing this highly confidential personal information to the media; and

(3) condemns the Minister for releasing the personal information of Australians for vindictive political purposes.

Leave not granted.

It is a scandal. I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Barton from moving the following motion forthwith—That the House:

(1) notes:

(a) the Government has released highly confidential personal information of Centrelink customers to the media as part of a vindictive political campaign to punish some of Australia's most vulnerable people for speaking out against the Government's robo-debt mess; and

(b) there are serious questions about the legality of the Government's actions and whether they constitute breaches of the Privacy Act;

(2) calls on the Minister for Human Services to attend the House to provide a full account of the:

(a) specific provision of the Privacy Act or any other legislation that the Government claims gives it the legal right to release this highly confidential personal information to the media; and

(b) involvement of himself, his office, his Department and Centrelink in releasing this highly confidential personal information to the media; and

(3) condemns the Minister for releasing the personal information of Australians for vindictive political purposes.

This motion must be debated today. The robo-debt debacle and the deeply flawed Centrelink debt recovery scheme have gone on for so long with no real answers from the government. This is emblematic of how heartless, vindictive and totally out of touch the government is with the Australian community. The government are not content just harassing age pensioners, those receiving the DSP or others who are receiving a Centrelink payment; they have made it clear that, if you speak out, they will target you. If you disagree with the government publicly, they will leak your private details to the media in an effort to discredit and smear you. That private information might include your relationship status and the number of times Centrelink has tried to contact you—and they will not mention that they are using an old contact number. In fact, that information could contain any number of private issues.

The first you will know about these breaches is a phone call or an email from a journalist. The minister will not even give you a call to let you know that they have shared your information. This is not right. Whether legally permissible or not, these are deeply unethical actions by the minister and the department. Leaking private information is not something a government should do lightly. I accept that there may be a need to correct the record at times and in some cases in the public interest, but it has to be done with the appropriate checks and balances. Stunningly, the department has revealed to the media this morning that at no point did the secretary formally authorise the release of this confidential information. I will repeat that: stunningly, the department has revealed to the media this morning that at no point did the secretary formally authorise the release of this confidential information. There appears to have been no formal process in place for this drastic action. They just did it because they were angry and because they wanted revenge on those who have spoken publicly about their failing administration of Centrelink.

Minister, today I call on you to stop focusing on vendettas and seeking revenge and to get on with fixing this broken system. I also call on the minister to table the legal advice he has had which gives him permission to smear people seeking answers or his advice from the secretary of the department that authorises these releases. If he cannot do that then the least he can do is explain to the House his actions. Since late last year Centrelink has been sending out 20,000 letters a week—one in five to people who owe no debt at all. If you get a letter and Centrelink decides you do owe a debt which you dispute, you face hours on the phone and sorting through payslips and tax returns trying to prove your innocence.

The minister needs to explain to this parliament and to the Australian people how this information about individuals ended up with media outlets in Australia. Is it any surprise that people are so angry that they want to tell their stories publicly? 1.7 million people will receive this letter over the next three years, sending them the message: if you do not owe the debt we have raised against you, suffer in silence or we will attack you. He can see the problems he will face if he does not fix this system soon and he is desperate to keep quiet.

Turning the political machinery of the department and the minister's office against a private citizens is a grave act and one which no-one in this place should undertake lightly. The robo-debt has been an outrage not just for individual members of the public but for many organisations, including ACOSS, the Welfare Rights Network, disabled peak organisations and the welfare rights alliance. Should they be fearful that any government funding they receive will be cut? Is that the kind of government we have on the other side? What about the Liberals who have spoken out about this system? Will the Minister for Human Services be leaking private information about Senator Abetz in the other place, who said that Centrelink has failed the Australian people? Will the Liberal Premier of Tasmania be focused on?

I was a minister for several years in the New South Wales parliament and I would have thought very carefully about whether it was acceptable to release confidential information to the media. We in this place serve the people and it is not for us to target them through the media. If the minister is unhappy about people raising concerns about this poor administration of Centrelink, he can attack the opposition, he can attack me, but not private individuals outside this place. This is a dangerous path, and I call on those opposite to call their colleagues into line. Good governments do not seek to silence criticism with threats and intimidation. They try to avoid it through good governance—none of which we have seen in this Centrelink debacle. I read the minister's comments in The Daily Telegraph this morning about disunity on the other side. He said, 'Get on with the job of governing.' I say this to the minister: perhaps you should apply that sentiment to Centrelink and fix your mess instead of attacking the most vulnerable.

There is a very clear narrative developing around this government. They are still obsessed with Joe Hockey's 'lifters' and 'leaners'. Look at the record. Look at their record on holding poor and vulnerable people hostage about the NDIS. Look at their actions yesterday about penalty rates, attacking young people, attacking women and attacking the rights of workers in this country. Look at what they have done in Centrelink. The public says it is not fair game for these political attacks.

I am pleased to see that the minister has made some changes, but the changes have not gone far enough. This system is broken. The very fact that the government think they can roll out the same system to elderly people, people on the age pension and people on DSP is just an outrage.

I want an apology and so do other people in the Labor Party to those the minister has targeted, to those he has smeared and to people who have spoken out, exercising their rights. They have been attacked for it. I want an apology for Anne Foley, an age pensioner who had her pension cut when a false debt was raised. I want an apology for Michael Griffin, who was issued a $3,000 debt which was taken down to just $50. The minister and this government should apologise to the people who woke up to find their private information in the papers without their permission. The minister should also apologise to his colleagues. He has made them look bad. All of those opposite should hang their heads in shame. They can look down at their iPads and phones and look like they are not interested, but they have had the same letters to their offices as we have.

The minister does not understand that the real reason individuals are in the media talking about the government's woeful record on Centrelink management is that they are being treated badly. This is not a big song and dance about how quickly these debt hotlines can be answered. It is not about that. People are waiting hours on hold. People know what the service is like at Centrelink. Centrelink staff are distressed because they have received a circular telling them, 'Even if you see a mistake, just pretend you didn't.' That is effectively what has happened. People are angry. The best way the minister can get them to stop talking to the media is to do his job. This minister and this government should step up to the box and explain to this House what is going on to fix the broken Centrelink system and how the private information of individuals has ended up in media outlets in this country. If the minister and the senior minister will not do that then maybe the Prime Minister should step in and take control of this and do something decent for the Australian people.

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