WELFARE RECIPIENTS – GOVERNMENT POLICY – AUSTRALIA

Call for fresh Morrison probe over Robodebt

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Original article by Rhiannon Down
The Australian – Page: 5 : 9-Aug-23

Greens MP Stephen Bates says former prime minister Scott Morrison appears to have deliberately made false statements about the robodebt scheme in order to mislead parliament. Bates contends that Morrison allowed robodebt to remain in place despite clear advice that the scheme was illegal. The Greens have introduced a motion in the lower house to refer Morrison to the privileges committee over his role in the robodebt scandal. A royal commission into the robodebt scheme made a number of adverse findings against Morrison.

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AUSTRALIAN GREENS

Labor targets Stuart Robert and his handling of robodebt in negative ads before Fadden byelection

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Original article by Paul Karp
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 12-Jul-23

The Coalition’s robodebt scheme has become a key focus of the campaign for the byelection in the federal seat of Fadden on Saturday. Labor has used social media and newspaper advertisements to target outgoing Fadden MP Stuart Robert and former prime minister Scott Morrison over their role in the robodebt scandal. Robert is a former government services minister, while Morrison was social services minister when the scheme was implemented. The Coalition is expected to win the byelection, having retained Fadden with a two-party preferred margin of 10.6 per cent at the 2022 election.

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AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Albanese government axing external debt collectors in bid to prevent another robodebt

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Original article by Paul Karp
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 13-Apr-23

Services Australia will assume full responsibility for recovering outstanding debts from welfare recipients when existing contracts with external debt collection firms expire on 30 June. Government Services Minister Bill Shorten has advised that all debt recovery will be undertaken in-house, contending that the nation must ensure that the robodebt scandal never happens again. The controversial scheme resulted in an increase in the use of external debt collection agencies to recover overpayments to welfare recipients. However, the majority of Centrelink debts were in fact recovered by Services Australia.

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AUSTRALIA. SERVICES AUSTRALIA. CENTRELINK

Turnbull says cabinet was told robo-debt was legal

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Original article by Tom Burton
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 2 : 7-Mar-23

The royal commission into the robodebt scheme heard evidence from former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull on Monday. Cabinet agreed to the controversial scheme in 2015, prior to Turnbull becoming prime minister; he said cabinet was told that the scheme was lawful, and he was therefore focused on the accuracy and fairness of the scheme rather than its legality. Turnbull also revealed that he recommended in early 2017 that the Digital Transformation Agency should be tasked with improving the scheme, but said that this did not occur.

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AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO THE ROBODEBT SCHEME

Chalmers still open to JobSeeker increase

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Original article by Sarah Ison
The Australian – Page: 2 : 18-Jan-23

Australian Council of Social Service CEO Cassandra Goldie has called for the JobSeeker payment to be increased from $48 per day to at least $73. The Greens in turn advocate increasing it to $88 per day. Treasurer Jim Chalmers has indicated that he may be open to increasing JobSeeker, after some members of the federal government’s economic inclusion advisory committee supported such a move. However, he has reiterated the need to take into account other pressures on the economy. Gareth Aird from the Commonwealth Bank cautions that increasing JobSeeker would boost inflation and may create a disincentive for unemployed people to work.

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AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL OF SOCIAL SERVICE, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA

Almost 200,000 robodebt cases to be wiped as Albanese government condemns shameful scheme

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Original article by Josh Butler
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 12-Oct-22

The federal government has advised that it will not proceed with reviews of 197,000 welfare recipients who were alleged to have been overpaid via the Coalition’s "robodebt" scheme. The reviews of these people’s income and welfare payments were suspended in 2019 after concerns emerged about the ill-fated scheme. The government will announce on Wednesday that these cases will be officially ‘wiped’. The government announced a royal commission into the robodebt scheme in August.

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Government concedes flaws but refuses to apologise for its unlawful Robodebt program

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Original article by
abc.net au – Page: Online : 1-Jun-20

The federal government announced on 29 May that it would refund $721 million in debts that it extracted from people through its controversial Robodebt scheme. Over 370,000 people were impacted by the scheme, with some receiving multiple notices. Attorney-General Christian Porter has refused to apologise to people who received notices under the scheme, although he concedes that civilly, it was unlawful. Despite the government’s refund decision, a class action against the scheme will continue.

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AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT

PM’s welfare shake-up to deliver $2bn saving

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Original article by Greg Brown
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 28-Jan-20

The federal government will legislate to ensure that welfare recipients are not overpaid, in a move that is projected to save some $2.1bn over four years. The proposed reform will affect about 1.2 million welfare recipients who also have income from a job, with changes to how they report gross earnings to Centrelink. Social Services Minister Anne Ruston says the current system for calculating earnings can be confusing and result in misreporting. The cost savings will help offset the impact of the bushfires on the federal Budget.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF SOCIAL SERVICES

Welfare debt squad hunts for $4bn

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Original article by Sarah Martin
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 5-Dec-16

The Australian Government expects data-matching technology to result in about 1.7 million welfare recipients being issued with compliance notices over the next three years. Welfare recipients have been ordered to repay almost $A650m since the automated system was introduced in July, which equates to about $A4.5m per day. The Government’s crackdown on fraud and overpayments is aimed at reining in the cost of welfare, which is forecast to total $A158.6bn in fiscal 2016.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HUMAN SERVICES, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF SOCIAL SERVICES, AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL OF SOCIAL SERVICE

Welfare pays more than work

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Original article by Sarah Martin
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 28-Oct-16

Data from the Australian National University shows that the nation’s median overall wage was $A46,500 in 2014-15, or $A39,841 after tax. In contrast, Federal Government data shows that some 43,000 welfare recipients who are also paid family allowances received more than $A45,000 in tax-free government payments in 2014-15. Social Services Minister Christian Porter has stressed the need for policies aimed at ending welfare dependency and encouraging parents to enter the workforce.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF SOCIAL SERVICES, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, NATIONAL PRESS CLUB (AUSTRALIA)