Medical researcher Janet Hammill, who works voluntarily, struggling to contact anyone at Centrelink after she was incorrectly told she owes $7,600

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

A leading fetal alcohol syndrome researcher and Queensland Australian of the Year finalist has been caught up in the Centrelink debt recovery scandal, after the system wrongly deemed she owed $7,600.

Medical ethnographer Janet Hammill, 76, has spent decades researching the foetal origins of health and disease, and remains with the University of Queensland, where she works voluntarily and lives off the age pension.

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Hammill received a $26,000 research grant between July 2011 and April 2012, which she fully reported to Centrelink at the time.

But Centrelink’s automated debt recovery system appears to have averaged the grant across all 26 fortnights of 2012, before deeming her to have been significantly overpaid.

She has struggled to get on to anyone at Centrelink to explain, including using their overloaded phone system and confusing online system.

“You feel so helpless, I mean for heaven’s sakes, you can look through my CV and see that I’m not helpless,” Hammill said.

Janet Hammill. Photograph: australianoftheyear.org.au

“But this puts you into another category of disempowerment. I can just imagine somebody who is not computer literate or is just managing to get by day to day, it’s just been so terribly frustrating,” she said.



“They made me feel as though I’m some sort of cheat, and I haven’t had an income since April 2012.”

Her case comes as the federal government implements changes to attempt to address criticism of its controversial automated debt recovery system.



The human services minister, Alan Tudge, who last week said the system was working as it should, has directed the department to begin including Centrelink’s dedicated 1800 phone number for the compliance team in letters to welfare recipients.

The language in the letters will also be simplified and made clearer, he said.

In cases where Centrelink has sent letters to the wrong address, the government will allow them to have an internal review before they are asked to begin paying back money.

The government will also use other records, such as the electoral roll, to ensure Centrelink’s letters are going to the right address, and will begin using registered mail to ensure the correspondence is received.

In a small number of cases, Centrelink will also call customers to ensure they have received the letters.

“One of the issues has been that on some occasions the address which Centrelink has on file hasn’t been an up-to-date one, and so the first that a person might hear about their debt notice is when there’s a debt collector on their doorstep,” Tudge said on 2GB radio in Sydney on Monday.

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“Now we’re fixing that problem by ensuring that we’re going to be using multiple different addresses including a person’s electoral roll address and other addresses to ensure they do get that letter and do get the opportunity to update their record if they do believe, honestly, that they have a valid explanation for why there’s a discrepancy.”

Labor’s Linda Burney has described the changes as a backflip, made after weeks of claiming there was nothing wrong with the system.

Burney issued a statement on Monday questioning whether the next batch of Centrelink’s letters, due to go out this week, will incorporate the changes, and how they would apply to those already affected.

“After weeks of denial the minster has finally admitted what everyone else already knows: there are serious problems with the robo-debt program,” Burney said. “Admitting the stuff-up is only the first step, now he needs to apologise and take action to help those who have been tormented by false debt claims.”

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie said he had been told by several Centrelink staff that the government is failing to properly deal with those left feeling suicidal by the system.

Wilkie said Centrelink staff are supposed to refer those feeling suicidal to social workers, but the level of demand for help has made that near impossible.

He said such cases were instead being referred back to casual Centrelink employees on the agency’s general phone line, who have no training in suicide prevention. Wilkie, who says he has spoken to several Centrelink whistleblowers, has written to the Commonwealth ombudsman detailing the allegations.

He said staff are being given a quota for the retrieval of debts (six to 10 debt notices a day) and discouraged from looking “too closely” at complex cases.



He said he had been told that Centrelink staff are being discouraged from pausing debt repayments in cases of financial hardship.

“The system’s a complete dud and must be fixed or binned,” Wilkie said.



“By knowingly issuing these questionable debt notices and collecting money that turns out not to be owed, this government is stealing from taxpayers,” he said.

But the department of human services have rejected Wilkie’s claims as inaccurate and misleading.

Department general manager for communications, Hank Jongen, said there had been no increase in social work referrals due to the new system.

“Staff are transferring calls to social workers where necessary as per our standard process and we are meeting our service standards,” Jongen said in a statement released on Monday afternoon.

“There have been no procedural issues with social workers being available.”

Jongen said all staff who were reviewing cases had received additional training, and that only skilled staff undertake decision-making.

He said all cases, including complex ones, are appropriately considered. Jongen rejected any notion that staff are given a quota for the raising of debts, and said financial hardship is taken into account.

Jongen also dismissed claims that the system had a 20% error rate.

“Commentary on the department’s online compliance system continues to incorrectly say 20 per cent of letters are being issued in error,” he said.

“This is misleading and a misrepresentation of the process.”