Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for her follow-up question. Going back to my explanation of the process whereby we reconcile discrepancies that are identified with overpayments or potential overpayments, and where the individual has been contacted to explain why the overpayment has been made, if it is identified through that process that the person either does not have the debt—and this process, by the way, I point out, is a human-led review process. If it is identified the person does not have a debt, for reasonable reasons, then that person is not pursued. But we have an obligation, where overpayments occur, to sustain our social welfare system, to make sure that we provide people with the amount of money that they are entitled to receive. That is the basis of the sustainability of our system.