Category Archives: Centrelink debt recovery

Australia weather live updates: more heavy rain forecast for NSW and Qld as SES issues flood warnings; Sydney downpours cause train delays and airport flight cancellations

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Dozens of flights cancelled at Sydney airport and drivers told to avoid non-essential travel as inland low and coastal trough combine

Helen Reid from the Bureau of Meteorology has just provided us with an update on the Sydney rain and said the city could very well receive a month’s worth of rain in one day.

She pointed to the Observatory Hill gauge and said on average in April, there is around 126.5mm of rainfall during the month. Since 9am yesterday morning, there has been 106mm of rain.

We are expecting rainfall over Sydney to increase during today … I would suggest that if we got more than the April average, that wouldn’t be too beyond too far beyond this stretch of imagination.

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Top Australian debt collector still operating in Victoria despite blacklisting

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Exclusive: Consumer Affairs Victoria investigating Panthera, which was fined $500,000 in 2020 after pursuing debts from people who were not liable

One of Australia’s largest debt collection companies is continuing to operate in Victoria despite being blacklisted in the state over its unlawful pursuit of false debts, undue harassment and misleading conduct.

Panthera Finance and its subsidiaries are major players in the Australian debt collection and acquisition sector, and were paid millions by the former government to help collect welfare debts for Services Australia.

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Australia news live: only 54.3% of Virgin flights and 66.3% of Qantas flights on time last month, transport minister says

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‘Very disappointing results, it is no wonder that so many Australians remain fed up with our major airlines,’ Catherine King says. Follow today’s news updates live

‘Very, very clear’ renewables are the cheapest form of energy, Bowen says

Renewable energy is the cheapest form of energy, including its storage and transmission costs, the energy minister told ABC RN.

Its conclusions this year are unimpeachable and very, very clear.

The cheapest form of energy is renewable energy, even including the costs that go with renewable energy around storage and transmission.

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Two people remain in jail for welfare debts that Centrelink may have been calculated unlawfully

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The cases are probably wrongful convictions and prosecutors should facilitate appeals, a legal expert says

Two people are in jail after Centrelink used unlawful calculations to accuse them of overclaiming welfare benefits, a watchdog has revealed.

On Monday the ombudsman released its second report on the income apportionment method, calling on Services Australia to waive 100,000 debts that may have been incorrectly calculated and revealing the “traumatic” impact on those convicted of offences related to welfare debt.

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Services Australia forced to pause Centrelink debt repayments for 86,000 people amid legality concerns

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Debt pause comes after watchdog found historical ‘income apportionment’ method breached social security law

Services Australia has been forced to pause Centrelink repayments for 86,000 people over concerns the welfare debts may be unlawful, while warning income support recipients it’s too early to say if those debts will be waived.

In August the commonwealth ombudsman revealed that up to 100,000 debts or potential debts were incorrectly calculated over two decades by “unlawfully apportioning” welfare recipients’ income.

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Services Australia apologises to staff over ‘unfair toll’ of robodebt

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Agency’s chief executive says Centrelink staff acted in ‘good faith’, following damning royal commission findings

Services Australia staff have received an apology from management over the robodebt scandal, with the agency’s chief executive saying that workers who enforced the scheme had suffered an “unfair toll”.

In a video message sent to staff on Friday afternoon, the Services Australia chief executive, Rebecca Skinner, praised staff who had spoken up about the unlawful income averaging scheme – which was the subject of a damning royal commission this year.

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Robodebt: 16 bureaucrats named in royal commission report face investigation by public service agency

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Independent reviewer to decide if the former and current staff have breached the public service code of conduct

The government’s central public service agency has revealed it will investigate 16 referrals relating to former and current bureaucrats named in the robodebt royal commission report.

In an update on Thursday afternoon, the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) – which has established a taskforce to deal with code of conduct referrals – said it had written to the individuals to notify them.

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Scott Morrison a ‘bottomless well of self-pity’ with no ‘mercy’ for robodebt’s real victims, Bill Shorten says

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Minister for government services says ‘real victims are all those Australians who lost trust in government’ due to scheme

Bill Shorten has accused Scott Morrison of being “a bottomless well of self-pity” with “not a drop of mercy for all of the real victims of robodebt”.

That outburst in question time followed the former prime minister’s defence of his involvement of the scheme in parliament on Monday, claiming Labor was pursuing a campaign of “political lynching” against him.

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Senior public servants criticised by robodebt royal commission scrubbed from organisational charts

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Lawyer Annette Musolino is on leave, as PM’s department assistant secretary Russell De Burgh is replaced on staff listing

Two public servants adversely named by the robodebt royal commission have been quietly scrubbed from organisational charts, including the former top lawyer at Services Australia who had spent months assisting the commission.

Annette Musolino, who was general counsel at the Department of Human Services (DHS) at the time of the unlawful debt recovery program and later chief operating officer of the department, renamed Services Australia, is on leave.

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Australia news live: ANZ says customers ‘by and large are faring extremely well’ despite interest rates squeeze

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Follow the day’s news live

A student on New South Wales’s Central Coast has died after contracting the influenza virus, just days after NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant warned circulation of influenza B was rising and young people were at heightened risk from the strain.

You can read the full story here:

Having a budget which is in much better nick means that if at some future point – and we’re not contemplating additional measures right now – but at some future point if we need to, we do that from a much more solid foundation. And that’s because we’re managing the budget so responsibly.

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Australia news live: China’s access to TikTok data ‘needs to be interrogated’, Shoebridge says

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Follow the day’s news live

It will be easier for women to medically terminate pregnancies up to 63 days of gestation, now that the Therapeutic Goods Administration has approved an application from MS Health to amend restrictions on the prescribing of MS-2 Step (Mifepristone and Misoprostol).

MS-2 Step was only able to be prescribed by a doctor certified to prescribe the medicine, and then dispensed by a pharmacist who was a registered dispenser.

We’re investing in the care economy, we’re investing in manufacturing and we’re investing in critical infrastructure to create secure, well-paid jobs for Australian workers.

While we know that slowing global growth, higher prices and higher interest rates will impact our economy and labour market and continue to strain household budgets over the coming months, Australia is in a better position than nearly anyone else to face the challenges ahead.

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Australia news live: Coalition faces fresh questions over Scott Morrison’s future after damning robodebt report

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Pressure builds on former prime minister to leave politics as Liberal MP says Morrison’s presence is ‘difficult’ for party to move forward. Follow the day’s news live

Young sailor rescued from rough seas in Great Australian Bight

Xavier Doerr is a 22yo sailor who was rescued in the Great Australian Bight over the weekend by an Indonesian cargo ship, after his sail boat was hit by rough weather and capsized.

I appreciated the trouble I was in after the collision.

I started taking on water. My boat is built so it cannot sink.

I don’t really want to comment on my colleagues.

What I will say is that the royal commission report was very sobering for the government, which I was a member of, and for the entire political class and the bureaucracy and we do have to very carefully study the report and its recommendations, particularly so it doesn’t happen again.

Neither me or any of my other colleagues are in a position to direct Scott Morrison on how he responds to this report.

He’s entitled to take whatever position he wants on the royal commission.

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Seven public servants criticised in robodebt report as agencies consider response

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Royal commissioner Catherine Holmes found that bureaucrats misled cabinet and ombudsman

At least seven public servants including the former Department of Human Services secretaries Kathryn Campbell and Renée Leon are the subject of adverse findings in the robodebt royal commission report released last week.

The commissioner, Catherine Holmes, found that public servants had engaged in conduct including misleading cabinet that legislation was not required for the unlawful scheme, and misleading the commonwealth ombudsman.

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Early robodebt critics outraged by how long Coalition persisted with unlawful scheme

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Shocking to learn politicians and public servants ‘were basically just lying to us’, Andrew Wilkie says

Early critics of robodebt have said they are shocked, appalled and outraged by how long the Coalition government persisted with the unlawful scheme.

The independent MP Andrew Wilkie and former the administrative appeals tribunal member Terry Carney were responding to the release of the royal commission report on Friday.

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Keating calls Nato head a ‘supreme fool’ over plan to open office in Asia – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

Racist throwback to Jim Crow days in America

Burney says the advert that ran in the Financial Review encouraging a “no” vote on the referendum over the Indigenous voice to parliament was “totally unacceptable”.

I think Matt Kean, the Shadow Health Minister in New South Wales, really nailed it, David, where he likened it to a racist throwback from the Jim Crow days in America, but it was also incredibly sexist and it is something in the words of Matt Kean, the ‘no‘camp has every right to have a say, but there are better ways of doing it.

I know Aboriginal Australia and I know that people know what the important issues - things like what I’ve identified - education, health, housing, jobs - and Josie Douglas who is this remarkable Aboriginal woman in the central land council put it perfectly: We are about changing lives, not changing dates.

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Kathryn Campbell retaining Aukus role would be ‘insult’ to robodebt victims, crossbenchers say

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Former head of the Department of Human Services faces calls to resign after royal commission findings

Crossbench MPs have called on the senior public servant Kathryn Campbell to consider resigning after the robodebt royal commission, claiming it would be “an insult” to the victims if she retains her Aukus role.

The royal commission report tabled in parliament on Friday said Campbell, a former head of the Department of Human Services, had been “responsible for a department that had established, implemented and maintained an unlawful program”.

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PwC to repay $800,000 for work on robodebt after damning royal commission report

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Embattled consulting firm also reveals it no longer employs partner involved in work on the scheme for the Department of Human Services

The consulting firm PwC will repay more than $800,000 it pocketed for work it completed on the robodebt scheme and has confirmed a partner involved in the work is no longer employed by the embattled company.

The firm’s acting CEO, Kristin Stubbins, confirmed that it would repay the $853,859 it was paid by the Department of Human Services to review the scheme.

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Peter Dutton concedes individuals made ‘mistakes’ on robodebt but warns against ‘trial by media’

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Opposition leader accuses Labor of politicising the royal commission findings and calls Bill Shorten a ‘political animal’

Peter Dutton has conceded that “mistakes” were made by “individuals” involved in the unlawful robodebt scheme, while warning against a “trial by media” on the findings of the royal commission.

At the Liberal National party’s state conference in Brisbane on Saturday, the federal opposition leader accused Labor of politicising the issue and referred to the government services minister, Bill Shorten, as a “political animal”.

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How the Coalition collaborated with ‘friendly media’ to silence robodebt victims

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Alan Tudge’s office planned to use sympathetic outlets such as News Corp to counter reporting on scheme, royal commission report reveals

When Alan Tudge needed to promote what became known as robodebt in December 2016, he found willing media outlets in the Australian newspaper, 2GB and A Current Affair.

“Welfare debt squad hunts for $4bn,” the Australian dutifully reported at the time. The then-human services minister next went on 2GB, where then-host Chris Smith said in the introduction: “Are all those people with their hands in the taxpayer pocket in genuine need?”

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Scott Morrison rejects robodebt royal commission findings but won’t say if he was referred for prosecution

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Anthony Albanese highlights commission’s ‘extraordinary’ conclusion that former PM’s evidence was ‘untrue’

Scott Morrison has rejected the robodebt royal commission’s findings but not said whether he has been referred for further civil or criminal actions, in contrast to claims from former Coalition ministers Christian Porter, Alan Tudge and Stuart Robert ruling themselves out.

In a statement on Friday, the former prime minister said he “completely” rejects adverse findings, claiming they were “wrong, unsubstantiated and contradicted by clear documentary evidence presented to the commission”.

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