Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

  (i) the Federal Government continued with the draconian robodebt program long after the harrowing evidence of the Senate inquiry in 2017 and the recommendation that it be put on hold while issues of procedural fairness were dealt with, and long after the major flaws with the income averaging process were identified,

  (ii) despite the announcement of the changes to income averaging via leaked emails, the silence by the Minister for Government Services on the way forward is once again leaving people worried and anxious,

  (iii) the Federal Government needs to be transparent about the new review process so that people know what is going on, and

  (iv) it will take extensive resources to identify and compensate the thousands of people who have been caught up in the robodebt scheme, and who have paid debts that were incorrectly calculated; and

(b) calls on the Federal Government to:

  (i) stop trying to evade responsibility for their systemic targeting of people on income support through income averaging and robodebt, and

  (ii) address the reduced revenue raising as a result of the new process, the cost to review income averaging cases of the robodebt program, including the projected number of people who may be eligible for compensation and/or a refund, as well as the staffing required to investigate these cases in the 2019-20 MYEFO.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government has announced a further refinement of the income compliance program, which has already undergone a number of iterations and refinements since its inception. These changes will make the program more robust by requiring additional evidence when using income information to identify potential overpayments. This means we will no longer raise a debt where the only information we're relying on is our own averaging of ATO income information. Income compliance activities are not ceasing, and the department will still review payments for discrepancies.

Question agreed to.