Trent Zimmerman (North Sydney, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Human Services and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Digital Transformation. Will the minister outline to the House how the government has worked to achieve savings of $1.4 billion in welfare payments through its fraud and compliance crackdown? Are there any alternative approaches?

Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Digital Transformation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for North Sydney for that question. He, like everyone on this side of the House, recognises that the welfare system only works and is sustainable when people get what they are entitled to but nothing more. This side of the House respects the Australian taxpayer, and we will not tolerate people defrauding our system. Where people have mistakenly overclaimed, we continue to expect them to repay that money. Because of the focus on compliance on this side of the House, from 1 July 2016 to the end of last year, we achieved savings of $1.4 billion in welfare payments through a fraud and compliance crackdown.

Not only are we recouping the money that was paid out to people who weren't entitled, but we are increasing our efforts to remind people of their obligations to keep us up to date of their circumstances so they don't get into debt in the first place. While the majority of people do the right thing, there are those who continue to set out to defraud the system, ripping off Australian families in the process. From 1 July 2016, my department investigated over 1,400 cases of potential welfare fraud and referred over 950 cases to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions for further action. In the most serious of those cases, the perpetrators ended up in prison—an example of which being a person who claimed Disability Support Pension that they weren't entitled to of over $160,000, and they were given three years in prison. Under this coalition government, if you're doing the wrong thing, if you're defrauding Australian taxpayers, we will find you, and you will face the consequences of your actions.

I've been asked by the member for North Sydney about alternative approaches. Under the Labor government, compliance and integrity of the welfare system was clearly not a priority. The value of debts raised in the last year of the Howard government was $400 million. In the last year of the Rudd-Gillard governments, it was down to $200 million—a reduction of $200 million in the space of those six years. The compliance checks that they conducted when they were in office were 16 per cent of what we conduct today, and the amount recovered through tip-offs from the public was only 25 per cent of what we recover today. We are doing this through increasing our data-matching program, which is six times what it was under the Labor Party. We on this side of the House believe in the integrity of the welfare system. We believe you only get what you're entitled to. But we're the only party in this parliament that does.