Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to condemn this government for its incompetent and cruel response to the Centrelink debt recovery debacle. I rise today to defend those in my electorate who have found themselves caught up in this unfair system and to call upon Minister 'I'm on leave' Tudge to account for his lack of attention to detail. On what planet can you start at a 20 per cent error rate, have it continue up to a 40 per cent error rate and think that you are doing a good job? How could you possibly have a system with a 40 per cent error rate and say that the system is working as it should? It tells us a lot about this government. It tells us that this government not only was incompetent in the implementation of the plan but also planned to fail—planned failure. Planned obsolescence has nothing on this government; it is planning to fail the people in my electorate.

We have had stories across the country about people caught up cruelly in this, people who have been proven not to owe a cent to Centrelink, people who have been shriven, people who have been made to feel ashamed, people who have been made to think that they could be found guilty of defrauding the Commonwealth and been found to be absolutely innocent. It is a disgrace.