Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Road Safety and Freight Transport) Share this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to have the opportunity to speak on this MPI, 'the government's unlawful online compliance program, also known as robodebt'. We get caught in this Canberra bubble. That's our job. We'll fight this out, absolutely. If anyone still listening into the broadcast of this debate takes anything away, please take away this: if you are in any doubt as to whether or not you are in breach with your Centrelink payments, my advice, and the advice of our government, is to please contact Centrelink and seek clarification from someone to put your mind at rest. If you've been contacted by someone to say that you're in the position of being garnisheed, and you think it is unlawful or heavy-handed, please contact Centrelink and clarify those points.

If the government has done anything as a result of a court action, I do take on the minister's earlier comments that we need to address it sensibly and practically to make sure that if there are wrongs then they are righted. It's important also to know that, in the conversation around those who potentially get caught up in this from a Centrelink perspective, there is probably more that unites this government and the opposition. If people have received, and continue to receive, payments that they know should not lawfully have come to them, I think both sides of the House are united in thinking that our welfare payment system is designed for those people who need it and is not designed or intended for those people who take advantage of the system.

We are a generous nation. We spend $180 billion on our social safety net, and we can and will continue to do that because we have a strong economy. We'll continue to make sure that those who are poor and vulnerable are looked after by this government. But right now, as of 31 October, over 950,000 Australians have 1.6 million social welfare debts, and the figure we're looking to recover in the area in question is about $5.3 billion. I reiterate the point that if you have been served with a debt and you think the debt has been miscalculated incorrectly, please contact Centrelink. Replace those unknowns and fears that you have so you can reduce those fears at Christmas.

I want to make a point before I run out of time. I did interrupt the member for Maribyrnong when he was giving his opening address. It was unparliamentary of me and I should not have done it. I should have waited until I got to the dispatch box to make my point. But there's been a fair bit in the media with reference to commentary from both the member for Sydney and the member who led the charge, and I'd like to read into the Hansard something linked to my comment, my interjection, about 2011, when they were in government. Bill Shorten and Tanya Plibersek are the godfather and godmother of the automated data-matching process, which they created in 2011. When jointly announcing Labor's new automated data-matching process, they said:

… if people fail to come to an arrangement to settle their debts, the Government has a responsibility to taxpayers to recover that money.

So this is not the first time language of our sort has been used in the public domain. They also said:

The automation of this process will free up resources and result in more people being referred to the tax garnishee process, retrieving more outstanding debt on behalf of taxpayers.

That was on 29 June 2011. Prior to that, the member for McMahon said:

It is important that the Government explores different means of debt recovery to ensure that those who have received more money than they are entitled to repay their debt.

Basically—and this is how I opened—those comments have all been mentioned by those on the other side. There is a way forward on this. There are more things that unite either side of this House around the retrieval of debt, and we'll right the wrongs. (Time expired)

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