Centrelink is unable to track how many cases of overpayment are caused by government error, according to responses it provided to a senate committee.

The Department of Human Services provided a series of responses to questions posed by the Greens senator Rachel Siewert on welfare overpayments.



Siewert asked how many of the 629,917 customers overpaid last financial year were caused through system or administrative error by Centrelink. DHS responded: “The department does not currently capture the portion of overpayments raised as a result of system or administrative error.”

Siewert described that lack of information as outrageous, saying the department appeared not to be keeping track of its own mistakes. “The government must immediately work to establish how many people accessing the social safety net received an overpayment because of an administrative error,” she said.

“For the government to not collate that information is deeply concerning. It means there is no attempt to collect data and analyse how many vulnerable people are stuck with debts they were not responsible for creating.”

Centrelink has always required those who have been overpaid to pay the money back, including when the overpayment was not their fault. That is a separate issue to complaints about the new debt recovery system, which has been criticised for allegedly wrongly pursuing welfare debts from vulnerable Australians.

Rallies were held across the country to protest against the unfairness of the automated system on Tuesday, drawing small crowds in Melbourne, Hobart and Adelaide.

In Melbourne, the Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, said the government’s debt recovery program was the “epitome of a system that is stacked against ordinary people”.

“It’s a system that says if you’re on Centrelink, you deserve to be punished, that you’ve got some failing, that you’re weak, that you’re not pulling your weight,” he said.

“Yet, if you can structure your affairs in a way that minimises the amount of tax you pay, you’re clever, you’re outsmarting the system.”



The last #Centrelink increase above CPI was in 1994 says Senator Richard Di Natalie - Senate inquiry as early as next week #notmydebt pic.twitter.com/G6jOAs94Hm — Darren Lewin-Hill (@NorthcoteIND) January 31, 2017

The Melbourne rally, organised by the Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union, marched down Swanston Street, chanting and carrying signs with slogans including “Hit the profiteers, NOT the unemployed”.

The Community and Public Sector Union, which represents Centrelink workers, also took part in the rally.

Its deputy national president, Rupert Evans, told the crowd that staff were feeling the impact of the unfair system. “People are fearful, distressed, ashamed and, of course, angry,” Evans said. “Our members are reporting that they are very distressed by the distress caused to their fellow citizens.”

The debt recovery system is being investigated by the commonwealth ombudsman, and will also come under the scrutiny of a Senate inquiry.

Siewert’s question on notice also asked whether there was a grace period to allow more time to hand back overpayments paid due to to errors by the government. The department said there was no such grace period but customers were allowed to ask for extensions or payment plans because of financial hardship.

Siewert said a grace period, at least, should be introduced. “It’s unfair that people on low incomes have to pay back overpayments when the debt is not their fault,” she said.

“I know the government is hell-bent on making life as difficult as possible for people that access the social safety net, but I think we should show a bit of humanity to people that are stuck in a situation they didn’t create.”