George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Senator, I have not seen Sen Abetz's remarks, so I will not be commenting on them. But I can tell you, Senator, in relation to the issue that you raise that, while Australia has a generous, targeted and fair welfare system, Australians rightly expect that support should only be provided to those who need it. Everybody who relies on the welfare system are entitled to what their entitlements prescribe—nothing more and nothing less. Senator Cameron, if we are going to have a fair and generous welfare system in this country there has to be a system that ensures that there is not overpayment and that where there is overpayment that overpayment is recouped.

The way the system works is that every relevant person receives a letter asking them to explain their circumstances. Where the Department of Health and Social Services have found a discrepancy between what that person told Centrelink that they earnt and information matched against the ATO—so if there is, evidently, a discrepancy between what the relevant person declared to Centrelink and what they declared in their return to the ATO—that data is matched. In the event that there is a discrepancy, the person concerned is asked to explain it. That is, Senator Cameron, a perfectly sensible way of identifying apparent discrepancies while at the same time—