Alan Tudge (Aston, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I am happy to speak on this motion largely to correct the record and also to explain how the system works, where it was derived from and exactly what the law says in relation to the release of information to correct the public record.

I will start with the main point of the member for Barton where she says she is asking for an apology. I would like to remind the member for Barton and other members opposite exactly where this system started. This system started, as they would know, in 1990. It started in an act which Graham Richardson introduced under the Hawke government. That was the first time that we had this system of checking the veracity of Centrelink information with Australian Taxation Office information. The Labor Party then introduced in 2011 a system of automation. As the member for Sydney and the Leader of the Opposition know, they were in fact the two presiding ministers at the time who introduced a system of automation. We have done more compliance work as we have gone on. When we came to government we expanded the amount of compliance work government was doing. It is important for the member for Barton to know that historical context in relation to how this system works.

I point out to the member for Barton that the methodology which we use is the same methodology that the Labor Party introduced in 1990—that is, it looks at what the individual has self reported to Centrelink and it compares that with what the Australian Taxation Office has in relation to the income on their files.

Dr Aly interjecting—

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