Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak about the robo-debt debacle. It may no longer be in the news every single day but it is absolutely in the lives of many thousands of Australians every single day. Today I would like to talk about one example: an aged care cleaner, Sheree, who lives in Tenambit in my electorate. Sheree has been a regular visitor to my office over this 'summer of hell' that the government has put people through by hounding them over alleged Centrelink debt and threatening to sick the debt collectors onto them if they do not pay up. We have heard what a total debacle robo-debt has been from the get-go, but that is not my focus today. Sheree is my focus today.

Sheree, to be frank, has had a gutful, and you cannot blame her. For the second time this year, my office has made representations to Minister Tudge on behalf of Sheree, trying to sort out her alleged Newstart debt. Sheree does not believe she owes anything at all to Centrelink, and she has cooperated by providing payslips and tax returns to prove it. But, fearing that she would be hounded by debt collectors, as the government has threatened, she entered into a payment plan of $50 a week while she tried to sort it out. She has officially had enough, and who can blame her? In October last year, when Centrelink first made contact, Sheree's debt was stated to be $3,700. In December, it was reduced to $2,800. In January, it was reduced to $1,100. But then, in February, it went back up to $1,500.

The situation, as I wrote to Mr Tudge, is completely untenable for Sheree. She has made every effort to supply all of the evidence that has been asked for. She has chased up old employers—and people know how difficult that can be—to get payslips. She has tracked down bank statements. She has submitted and resubmitted tax returns. She has done everything that has been asked of her, and yet it still cannot be sorted out. 'Why', she asks, 'would a debt go from $3,700 down to $2,800, down again to $1,100 and then up again to $1,500?'

I have asked Mr Tudge for a final review to be carried out, so a final amount of debt can be determined in what seems to be the debt lucky dip—who knows what she will get next?—so that Sheree can get on with her life. She has spent considerable time and energy trying to sort this out, and it has caused a bucketload of stress for her. Of course, we all know she is not alone. More than 217,000 notices were issued by the robo-debt system. It is an algorithm clearly out of control. It is useless. I have to say, it is a lot like our present government.

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