Category Archives: Centrelink debt recovery

Capsule found after ‘needle in a haystack’ search – as it happened

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The deputy prime minister and defence minister, Richard Marles, spoke to ABC AM Radio from London following a meeting with the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak.

Marles would not be drawn into whether he discussed with Sunak the possibility of Australia acquiring British built nuclear submarines under the Aukus deal but said when the announcement is made it will be a “genuinely trilateral effort.”

Prime Minister Sunak commented on just how full the agenda is between our two countries and how much that is making – perhaps our oldest and most historic relationship – one which is deeply relevant in in the contemporary moment and certainly Aukus is central to that.

And we’re close to announcement and I’m not about to preempt that now. But I think what you’ll see is when we ultimately do announce the optimal pathway that we’ve been working on with both the United States and United Kingdom, that what it really is, is a genuinely trilateral effort to see by the UK and the US provide Australia with a nuclear powered submarine capability.

We’re confident that what we will be announcing in the coming weeks is a pathway that will be able to be delivered by all partners on time.

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Australia news live updates: ClubsNSW chief says he ‘misspoke’ in linking Perrottet’s faith to pokies policy

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Independent MP Alex Greenwich calls on Josh Landis to step down following comments about NSW premier. Follow the latest updates live

Alice Springs’ convention centre was packed last night for a meeting where business owners alleged they’ve suffered losses due to government inaction.

The ABC is reporting that organiser and business owner Garth Thompson told the crowd that the Northern Territory government had neglected Alice Springs and residents “deserve to be compensated for what the government has put us through”.

I’m more than proud to stand here and say we, as a community of Alice Springs, are about to sue our government for $1.5 billion in compensation.

Those of us who came here for a community meeting ended up listening to 20 to 30 minutes of a local business owner essentially stir up a very emotive narrative centred around the protection of private property.

I think it’s fair to say that the premier has very little understanding of this issue and has acted from his conservative Catholic gut rather than based on evidence.

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Linda Reynolds sends formal defamation complaint to Brittany Higgins’s partner – as it happened

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Ukrainian loss would embolden leaders in Pacific region, ambassador says

The ambassador of Ukraine to Australia and New Zealand, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, stresses that the reason Australia’s assistance needs to continue is because it’s in Australia’s interests to support the Ukraine:

The reason why we need to keep up and step up that assistance because this war in Ukraine is disrupting everything. It’s really undermined security, regionally, globally.

It’s having a major impact on your partners here in the region. Look at Indonesia. I mean, they are really suffering from the lack of food that can get on their market. They have 275 million people to feed and they really rely on grain from Ukraine, which now they have a hard time getting hold of as the prices have surged. We’ve seen the impact on the energy markets on the volatility of the commodity markets.

What’s important is that Australia continues to support Ukraine. We are truly thankful for what Australia has done so far, especially the last package which was announced in October where another 30 Bushmasters were allocated and the troops which are now in Britain have already been able to train Ukrainian soldiers. It’s really a big help.

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Age pensioner felt ‘sheer terror’ at receiving robodebt letter demanding $65,000, inquiry told

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Woman says she feared she could lose her home when Centrelink letter ‘turned my life upside down’, before debt was reduced to $120 then refunded

An age pensioner who was initially told she had one month to pay back a $65,000 robodebt will “never get over” what happened to her, a royal commission has heard.

The commission is investigating why and how the unlawful Centrelink debt recovery scheme was established in 2015 and ran until November 2019, ending in a $1.8bn settlement with hundreds of thousands of victims.

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Robodebt inquiry: Scott Morrison says it’s ‘distressing’ ministers not warned about scheme’s legal risks

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Former prime minister tells royal commission that public servants had ‘obligation and duty’ to disclose issues with debt recovery plan

Scott Morrison has disputed that public servants felt pressure not to inform him of legal risks about the robodebt scheme, telling a royal commission they had an “obligation and duty” to warn ministers of problems and it was “distressing” they never did.

The commission is investigating why and how the unlawful Centrelink debt recovery scheme was established in 2015 and ran until November 2019, ending in a $1.8bn settlement with hundreds of thousands of victims.

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Man who fired gun inside Canberra airport was on parole for attempted murder – as it happened

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Butler defends decision to cut Medicare-funded psychology sessions

The federal health minister, Mark Butler, is speaking to ABC Radio following his decision Monday to cut the number of Medicare psychologist sessions. He’s come under serious heat for the move which experts say is “appalling.”

This program has been around for a number of years, and it has for many years had a limit of 10 sessions for people to access over that long period the average person has used 4 - 5 of those sessions.

This is a good program, I’ve been familiar with it for many, many years, but its problem has always been one of equity.

The evaluation found that the lowest-income communities have more than twice the levels of mental distress as the highest-income communities, but they get the lowest level of support and, under this program, that inequality was substantially worsened by these additional 10 sessions.

People like Prof Ian Hickey said at the time that those additional sessions in a sector with a limit workforce, was going to have the effect of cutting out other people, meaning other people couldn’t get any support whatsoever.

And the evaluation I .. released on Monday showed exactly that, that it had the impact of cutting more people out of the system. Most of those people were in some of the poorest communities, where the evaluation said there is the highest need.

The recommendation of the report was we would consider additional sessions for people with complex needs, now this system was not designed to focus on people with complex needs.

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Former PM grilled at royal commission – as it happened

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Balancing the budget

Senior counsel assisting, Justin Greggery has asked Scott Morrison whether or not balancing the budget was a priority. Morrison says it should always be a priority. He then goes on to state that it was something his government was able to achieve just before the pandemic hit.

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Australia news live: Queensland police pay tribute to two officers killed in ‘absolutely devastating’ shooting ambush

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Two police officers and another member of the public were shot dead at a Wieambilla property, then two men and a woman were killed by police late last night. Follow the day’s news live

Police officers who were shot and killed on a regional Queensland property were searching for a New South Wales man last seen by his family almost a year ago, Guardian Australia understands.

On Monday, four officers attended the remote property at Wieambilla in the Western Downs region in connection with the disappearance of Nathaniel Train, 46, from Dubbo in NSW.

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Senator says plan ‘a Band-Aid on a festering wound’ – as it happened

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Severe weather warning for damaging winds in NSW and Victoria

Several children have been injured after a firework shot into a crowd during a Christmas event in Sydney’s northern beaches last night.

An 11-year-old boy was initially taken to Royal North Shore hospital, before being transferred to the Children’s hospital at Westmead for treatment of burns and a chest injury.

An eight-year-old girl was taken to Northern Beaches hospital for treatment of burns and a wrist injury. She has since been released.

Police have been told a 12-year-old boy was taken to hospital by his parents for treatment to minor burns and has since been released, and six other people were treated on scene by NSW Rural Fire Service for minor injuries, and left prior to the arrival of paramedics and police.

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Australia news live: national cabinet to discuss energy fix; Victorian Labor poised to surpass 2018 ‘Danslide’

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Reducing bills will be main focus of virtual gathering of the prime minister, premiers and chief ministers. Follow all the day’s news

Ears to the ground as national cabinet meeting approaches

The rumour mill is running hot ahead of national cabinet. Here’s some of what people have been saying.

During an interview with Patricia Karvelas this morning, the climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, said:

Well, I’ve confirmed that certainly people will see a reduction in their bills … The reduction will happen not in a handout, but when they get their bill. It’ll be baked into the bill.

The NSW government is leading the push for a rebate, which is believed to have in-principle backing of the Albanese government. The rebate in NSW could be worth as much as $280 for households.

The temporary rebate would be in addition to existing energy rebates already offered in NSW and Queensland for low-income households and are designed to cover the six to 12-month gap until price rises are projected to flatten under coal and gas price caps.

The future is renewable. Let’s be very blunt. Coal-fired power stations are going to close. That’s a statement of fact. We need to replace them. The transition to renewables has been too slow, and too disorderly.

The task here is to ensure that new energy comes on not after coal-fired power leaves, because that’s too late, but before.

What this is, is the safety net under this transition to ensure we have reliable energy.

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Senior public servant under scrutiny at robodebt inquiry appointed head of Aukus project office

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Former head of Department of Human Services Kathryn Campbell has come under extensive questioning at the royal commission into robodebt

Kathryn Campbell, one of the senior public servants being questioned at the robodebt royal commission, has been appointed head of the Aukus joint project office at the Department of Defence.

Labor put its stamp on the public service when it won the election, moving Campbell out of the role of head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

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Robodebt royal commission told ‘misrepresentation may have made its way into the cabinet’

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Bureaucrats from March 2015 insisted in documents that scheme would ‘not change’ how welfare overpayments were calculated, inquiry hears

Bureaucrats misrepresented the robodebt scheme in cabinet documents prepared for the 2015 budget, apparently paving the way for the unlawful program to be set up, a royal commission has heard.

The inquiry is investigating why and how the unlawful Centrelink debt recovery scheme was established in 2015 and ran until November 2019, ending in a $1.8bn settlement with hundreds of thousands of victims.

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Robodebt inquiry hears officials were under pressure to come up with budget savings

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Former Department of Human Services official Scott Britton tells royal commission his team looked at whether they could use data to streamline compliance

A former Australian government official involved in the creation of what became the robodebt scheme has told a royal commission his Department of Human Services team was under significant pressure to come up with budget savings.

The royal commission is investigating the botched Centrelink debt recovery scheme, which ran from July 2015 until November 2019 and which the inquiry heard continued despite internal legal warnings, culminating in a $1.8bn settlement with hundreds of thousands of people.

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Robodebt went ahead, despite legal doubts, after earning Scott Morrison’s backing, inquiry hears

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The then social services minister wanted Centrelink debt recovery proposal worked up for 2015 budget process, royal commission told

The social services department received “catastrophic” draft legal advice warning the robodebt scheme was unlawful from a top private law firm in 2018, a royal commission has heard.

The inquiry is investigating the failed debt recovery scheme, which ran from July 2015 until November 2019 and culminated in a $1.8bn settlement covering hundreds of thousands of people issued unlawful Centrelink debts.

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Robodebt: key public officials and debt collectors to appear as royal commission kicks off

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Inquiry into botched Centrelink debt recovery scheme starts its first round of hearings on Monday

Officials from key government departments embroiled in the robodebt scandal and two private debt collection agencies are expected to be grilled when a royal commission kicks off this week.

The inquiry into the botched Centrelink debt recovery scheme will start its first block of hearings on Monday, investigating the establishment, design and implementation of the unlawful program.

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Lidia Thorpe to lodge press council complaint over voice report; attorney general says pursuit of Assange has ‘gone on long enough’ – as it happened

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Mark Dreyfus says most anti-corruption hearings will be private and only public in exceptional circumstances. This blog is now closed

US security expert says chances of Putin using nuclear weapon are “small”

During his visit to Canberra, the chief executive of the Washington-based thinktank the Center for a New American Security, Richard Fontaine, weighed in on the US president, Joe Biden’s recent comments that the world could face “Armageddon” if Russia’s Vladimir Putin uses a tactical nuclear weapon to try to win the war in Ukraine.

I seriously doubt that anybody handed the president a set of written talking points that had the word Armageddon on it. On the other hand, there is very grave concern about the rattling of the nuclear sabre, because the chances, I think, of Russia using even a tactical nuclear weapon are small, but they’re higher than they were. And they’re probably higher than any time since 1962 with the [Cuban] missile crisis.

The use of nuclear weapons is one of these low probability, extremely high consequence events. So even if the probability is relatively small, the consequences would be so grave. If they were to do this, we would wake up in a different world the next day.

Yes, absolutely. Every country really has a dog in this fight, because what we’re talking about here is a violation of the fundamental rules of international order, the cardinal element of which is the prohibition against territorial conquest by force. And that’s exactly what we’re seeing here.

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

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Amanda Rishworth cites need for a welfare system that is ‘not punitive’ as she confirms reviews will be scrapped

Nearly 200,000 Australians will have their robodebt reviews wiped as the federal government scraps investigations that were put on hold for three years under the unlawful welfare scheme.

About 124,000 people were told they were under review for social security payments they had received, while 73,000 were never informed they were being assessed for potential debts under the data-matching program.

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Australia news live: Peter Dutton labels robodebt royal commission and Morrison ministries inquiry ‘witch-hunts’

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Qantas engineers begin industrial action today

Qantas engineers will delay their shifts by one minute as an industrial action strategy, according to the ABC.

The one-minute strike is to protest Qantas’s inaction over negotiations for a 12% pay rise over four years, equivalent to 3% a year, and is designed to send a message to management: patience has run out.

The engineers’ strike over wages comes on the same day Qantas releases its annual profit results and in the same week management attempted to win back customers disgruntled over delays and lost baggage with $50 travel vouchers.

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Albanese and Morrison to face off in second leaders’ debate of federal election, Nine says

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News of debate which will employ a panel of three journalists comes as Labor pledges robodebt royal commission and Coalition promises cheaper medicines

Anthony Albanese and Scott Morrison will go head to head in a second leaders’ debate less than a fortnight out from the federal election, the Nine network has announced.

It follows days of backroom negotiations between the two major parties while the opposition leader recovered from his recent bout of Covid-19.

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Robodebt class action: Coalition agrees to pay $1.2bn to settle lawsuit

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Some 400,000 Australians will share $112m in extra compensation, lawyers say

The Australian government has agreed to a $1.2bn settlement for a class action brought on behalf of hundreds of thousands of robodebt victims.

In a deal struck the day a federal court trial was set to begin, 400,000 people will share in $112m in additional compensation, the firm running the action, Gordon Legal, announced on Monday.

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