Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased that parliament has returned today and we have this opportunity to make a constituency statement about an issue that has been affecting, I think, all MPs over the summer break, and this is the issue of the very large number of inaccurate Centrelink debt notices that have been sent to Australians for the last couple of months.

This Christmas, many residents of Melbourne's west received a very unpleasant Christmas present: an inaccurate Centrelink debt notice. This is symptomatic of a broader problem that we have with the Australian welfare system and with government in Australia in general, and that is the failure of government and instruments of our government to see the individual people within the system: a faceless bureaucratic system that does not see the individuals that it is designed to serve.

Over the past two months, we have seen Centrelink automatically issuing thousands of debt notices based on new computer data analysis. However, this data has been shown to be inaccurate or at least outdated. My office has been inundated by calls from frightened constituents who have been issued with these inaccurate notices. My office has been filled over the Christmas break with people literally in tears over this issue, and my constituents, like many Australians, have been unfairly and inaccurately targeted.

This dodgy program is not just a computer stuff-up: it affects real people's lives and it has caused enormous disruption and distress. One constituent wrote and told me: 'This process took three months, at least one week off work collectively on the phones talking to Centrelink. One day I spent six hours on the phone and was transferred to 10 separate people. Seven complaint letters to Centrelink and hours of time collecting the documents they requested for information that they already had. Each time I complained, I would get a letter with the debt slightly reduced. I would then have to go through the whole process again to unpick their errors and fight the new debt.'

This is just one example. They are not alone. Four thousand people a week have been receiving inaccurate debt notices. Twenty per cent of the notices issued each month have been shown to be wrong. This dodgy program is wrong. It is unfair for governments to make individuals prove their innocence, particularly in the threatening and intimidating way that these letters have been provided in the shadows of Christmas. There is a huge amount of fear in my community of receiving one of these letters in the future, not just ones that have already been received. The government is not checking the facts and not doing the right thing. The government is not seeing the individuals that it is supposed to serve.

Some in this country wonder why we have such public alienation from our government and our democratic institutions in Australia, in the US and across the western world. This is a great example of why: an example not only of government failing the Australian public on a practical matter of concern to their daily lives but of a government demonstrating by their actions and sending a message to the Australian public that they do not care, that they are not listening and that they refuse to act in response to these practical impacts on people's lives.

In contrast, the Labor Party is listening, and we are ready and willing to fight these dodgy debt letters. I say to any members of my constituency: 'If you receive one of these letters and you think you've been dudded, I will fight for you. I will take your cause up with the government. I will make sure you're not unfairly done by.'