This week, Guardian Australia has continued to receive complaints about Centrelink’s new method of retrieving welfare debts, which relies on an automated data matching process criticised as crude and unfair.

Now, a handful of the thousands of Australians caught up in the government’s crackdown share their experience of being unfairly targeted.

Sally, Brisbane

I am the single mum of five and three year olds. I work part time and receive partial parenting payment and family tax benefits. This finances our simple lifestyle. I was shocked and dismayed to receive a letter from Centrelink Compliance department with a debt of $24,215.81 (including $2,110 debt recovery fee) to be paid by 9 January. I was able to talk with Centrelink Compliance and it appears the automated system “duplicated” my employer, so it appears I had a second undeclared job. Although this is Centrelink’s error, I need to provide two years of payslips and apply for a “manual reassessment” of my case. To stave off debt collectors, I had to start repaying my “debt” at a reduced rate.

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Ryan, Melbourne

As a long-term full-time employed professional, tax payer and small business entrepreneur, I contribute to our economy in many positive and financial ways.



Centrelink have incorrectly alleged they overpaid me the government benefit Youth Allowance which financially assisted me to successfully complete a professional tertiary qualification in 2010-2011. This qualification is now used daily in my profession. This issue has been raised six years in retrospect, which appears now due to an erroneous automated computer “data match”.

Centrelink have repeatedly refused to provide written evidence of how the overpayment occurred. In addition to this, they have falsified my fortnightly income statement since I reported it in the 2010-2011 financial year. They have also requested I supply documented financial records I am not obliged to keep under ATO law. Centrelink has been grossly wasteful of my time and that of tax-funded government employed staff. My time is valuable and productive, both within full-time employment and small business development.

Throughout this ordeal, I’ve been subjected to personal distress, confusion and dismay and at a time of family grieving, my 66-year-old father passing away concurrently with receiving presumptive Centrelink letters of debt. The current data match regime appears to have a clear objective and obvious demographic: disrupt the disadvantaged, defenceless and vulnerable.

I now feel nothing more than inspired to stand up, fight for change and the protection of our basic civil liberties. We may feel small as individuals, but collectively we can stand tall and safeguard those around us, who deserve respect, dignity, equality and compassion in our free and democratic society.

James, Wollongong

A debt collector rang me on a Saturday morning and it ruined my weekend. I thought I was being scammed: they were asking for my personal details and demanding I identify myself. I had to wait until Monday to get an answer out of Centrelink, which was: I owed them $1,000 because their automated tax matching said so.

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They wanted letters and payslips from employers proving I wasn’t a liar. When I did get the information, there has been no way to provide the Department of Human Services with it even after four weeks of trying. I feel as though I’ll have no choice but to pay when leaving for an overseas trip – extorted for the money I “owe” at the customs desk or miss my flight.

Dave, Sydney

I reported correctly while on youth allowance but was sent a letter from Centrelink demanding payment of a $2,500 “debt” based on alleged under reporting. The demand caused me stress and anxiety. I spent at least five hours contacting Centrelink and gathering my payslips to prove that I did not under report and that I did not owe a debt.

After phone calls and emails to and from Centrelink and a journalist from the ABC, Centrelink acknowledged that I did not owe any debt. There was no apology for the false accusation or the stress caused. I am concerned that most people would simply pay the “debt” on the assumption that Centrelink had a valid basis to their demand.



Names have been changed.

If you have more information about this story, email christopher.knaus@guardian.co.uk.