Hollie Hughes (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

You might remember that because you probably won't see it again for a while. Anthony Albanese cannot escape that harsh truth. He is so disingenuous that, in fact, Labor's policy costings for the 2019 federal election, released by the Parliamentary Budget Office, did not include the reversal of robodebt. Labor's social security policies, which they brought to the 2019 federal election, did not include the reversal of robodebt, and Labor's own budget plan from the 2019 federal election didn't include the reversal of robodebt but banked the savings from robodebt to fund their election commitments.

In stark contrast, the Morrison government remains committed to the continued improvement of the income compliance program and the Prime Minister has apologised for any hurt or harm this program has caused. If we go back to 9 May 2019, when Bill Shorten was directly asked about the robodebt system, he said:

We want to make sure that people aren't receiving welfare to which they're not entitled to. And no one gets a leave pass on that.

The income compliance program was developed to make identifying welfare overpayments more efficient. It assisted with reviews where customers didn't respond or fully engage with requests to clarify discrepancies between income and earnings reported to Centrelink and the Australian Taxation Office. In recent times Services Australia, as part of its commitment to continuous improvement, has engaged with more than 35 organisations including advocacy groups and it has piloted the first refund process, engaged with the ombudsman's office on draft refund letters and met with the civil society advisory groups with further updates on the agency's progress in refunding customers. In fact, the Commonwealth Ombudsman, in his most recent report, commented positively on the enhanced customer experience, including improved letters and income compliance correspondence.

From July this year Services Australia commenced repayments made on debts using income averaging based on ATO data. The number of debts or debt notices raised wholly or partially using income averaging of Australian Taxation Office data is approximately 525,000. The total value of refunds, including recovery fees and/or interest charges, is estimated at $741.6 million, with 430,000 people to have their debt zeroed. Of these, approximately 378,000 people will also receive a refund and approximately 52,000 won't receive a refund as no repayment was ever made. But, with regard to refunds and the progress made to date, as at 30 November 2020, 406,889 people have had their refunds completed—that means they've been processed or their debt zeroed—with a total value of $700.7 million in refunds paid, about 95 per cent of people and 95 per cent of refunds by value.

Approximately134,050 former customers have completed the online task for a refund, with payments being processed, and approximately 23,100 people are still to be refunded or have their debt zeroed. Of these, 10,150 customers require tailored servicing by Services Australia due to their individual circumstances, such as incarceration or bankruptcy. Then there are 12,950 former customers who need to complete their refund pending task in myGov to trigger their refund. There have also been advances in simplifying income reporting, with 1.2 million income support recipients who report earnings to benefit from a simpler way of reporting their employment income. From 7 December 2020, income support recipients will find it easier to report their income by using the amount found on their payslip, rather than trying to calculate what they've earned in a fortnightly entitlement period.