WELFARE RECIPIENTS – AUSTRALIA

Commonwealth Bank bows to ASIC pressure with $68m in fee refunds

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Original article by Angira Bharadwaj
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 24-Dec-25

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has belatedly agreed to provide a partial refund to low-income customers who were charged high fees despite being eligible for low or no-fee bank accounts. A report from the Australian Securities & Investments Commission in mid-2024 found that welfare recipients had paid $270m in "excessive" fees to the CBA since 2019. ASIC also found that Westpac, Bendigo Bank and the ANZ Bank had charged excessive fees, although they agreed to provide a refund to affected customers. CBA has now advised that it will provide $68m worth of ‘goodwill’ refunds to these customers in early February; it had already paid about $25m in refunds to Indigenous customers in response to the report.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, asic use AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, BENDIGO BANK, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

Robo-debt officials to be investigated, in anti-corruption commission backflip

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Original article by Olivia Ireland
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 19-Feb-25

Former High Court judge Geoffrey Nettle has ruled that National Anti-Corruption Commission should investigate six public officials over their role in the robodebt scandal. Nettle was commissioned to undertake an independent review of the NACC’s June 2024 announcement that it would not pursue an investigation into six individuals who had been referred to it by the robodebt royal commission. The names of the six officials have not been disclosed. The welfare debt recovery scheme was implemented by the former Coalition government, and subsequently deemed to have been unlawful.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. NATIONAL ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Record insolvencies tarnish Chalmers’ spin

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Original article by Geoff Chambers
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 18-Dec-24

Data from the Australian Securities & Investments Commission undermines the federal government’s economic credentials. The figures show that 12,405 businesses were declared insolvent in the first 11 months of 2024. This includes a record 1,442 business failures in November, which is 62 per cent higher year-on-year. Nearly 26,000 businesses have collapsed since Labor won the May 2022 federal election; Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley notes that this is approximately the same as the number of additional public servants Labor has hired since it took office. Separate data shows that the number of welfare recipients has risen by about 83,000 year-on-year.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Centrepay report that found major failings ignored by successive Coalition governments, author says

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Original article by Christopher Knaus, Lorena Allam
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 7-Aug-24

The federal government recently launched a review of the controversial Centrepay system for welfare recipients. However, the previous Labor government had also commissioned a review of the debt recovery system in 2012. That review was undertaken by Anna Buduls, who says her report has been "mostly buried" by successive governments since it was delivered just before the Coalition took office in 2013. Her recommendations included establishing a code of conduct for approved Centrepay operators and a dedicated complaints telephone line.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. SERVICES AUSTRALIA. CENTRELINK, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Dole hike strikes the right balance

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Original article by Sarah Ison
The Australian – Page: 5 : 10-May-23

The federal government’s 2023 budget includes some $4.9bn worth of measures for people who are unemployed. Treasurer Jim Chalmers has announced that welfare payments such as JobSeeker will rise by $40 a fortnight, which equates to an increase of less than six per cent. In contrast, the government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee had recommended a 40 per cent increase. The government will also reduce the age threshold for older unemployed Australians to qualify for a higher JobSeeker payment from 60 to 55; Chalmers notes that many people aged 55+ struggle to find work, with women in particular being over-represented in this age group.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Coalition’s $50 JobSeeker rise more generous than Labor’s proposal, Pocock says

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Original article by Amy Remeikis, Paul Karp
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 3-May-23

The federal government is under scrutiny over reports that an increase in the JobSeeker payment in the 9 May budget will be restricted to people aged 55+. Independent senator David Pocock has called for an across-the-board increase in unemployment benefits and the youth allowance, saying it appears that younger people are being "left behind". Pocock adds that Labor risks being unfavourably compared to the former Coalition government, which increased JobSeeker and other support payments by $50 a fortnight in April 2021. Liberal MP Bridget Archer and teal MPs have also called for an increase in JobSeeker for all recipients.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Jobs galore, but more on JobSeeker

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Original article by Geoff Chambers, Sarah Ison
The Australian – Page: 1 & 5 : 3-May-23

Data from the Department of Social Services shows that 921,000 people were receiving the JobSeeker and youth allowance payments at the end of March. The number of people receiving these payments has fallen by just 59,000 since Labor took office in May 2022, despite the unemployment rate having fallen to its lowest level in nearly five decades. Opposition leader Peter Dutton has urged the federal government to strengthen the ‘work for the dole’ program, which Treasurer Jim Chalmers has rejected. He says the 9 May budget will include measures aimed at supporting communities that are facing "entrenched, long-term unemployment".

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF SOCIAL SERVICES, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Robodebt question minister can’t answer

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Original article by Catie McLeod
The Australian – Page: 2 : 14-Dec-22

Former human services minister Marise Payne appeared before the royal commission into the robodebt scheme on Tuesday. The inquiry has been told that former social security minister Scott Morrison had been advised in late February 2015 that policy and legislative changes would be required in order to implement the scheme. However, Payne has told the inquiry that she was unable to explain how this advice had "disappeared" by the time the expenditure review committee met to discuss the robodebt scheme in late March of that year.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO THE ROBODEBT SCHEME

Scott Morrison’s lawyers say his reputation is on the line over robodebt royal commission testimony

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Original article by Luke Henriques-Gomes
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 7-Dec-22

Former prime minister Scott Morrison is slated to appear before the royal commission into the robodebt scheme next Wednesday. Morrison’s lawyer, James Renwick SC, wants his client to be able to refer to secret cabinet documents in his upcoming testimony, even though royal commissioner Catherine Holmes has ruled that the documents cannot be released on the grounds of confidentiality. Renwick has argued that Morrison’s reputation is on the line, and that he is entitled to answer the notice from the commission in a complete fashion. Morrison was in charge of the social security portfolio when the scheme to recover overpayments to welfare recipients was developed.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO THE ROBODEBT SCHEME

Thousands face income hit as disaster payments are cut: UNSW

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Original article by Shane Wright
Brisbane Times – Page: Online : 4-Oct-21

Research conducted by the University of New South Wales and the Australian Council of Social Service contends that many people in electorates across Melbourne and western Sydney will be adversely impacted by cuts to COVID-related disaster payments. The cuts are due to begin when 70 per cent vaccination targets are met, which is due to happen in NSW as soon as 11 October. The research contends that ending the payments will push thousands back into poverty, and could harm the nation’s recovery from the pandemic.

CORPORATES
UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL OF SOCIAL SERVICE