More robo-debt stress

ROBO-DEBT letters from Centrelink are still being issued, causing severe financial and emotional stress for some Tasmanians, independent Denison MHR Andrew Wilkie says.

Mr Wilkie said his office continued to receive calls from constituents who believed they had been sent incorrect debt notices from Centrelink, in- cluding from one woman who was subsequently hospitalised for suicide attempts.

Mr Wilkie’s office has received recent complaints from an Austudy recipient who was issued with four debt notices totalling $10,000.

Two of the debts were cancelled and other amounts owing were changed, however the woman was forced to call Lifeline after subsequently re- ceiving news from Centrelink that her debt had been increased.

One constituent was told she owed almost $3000, which must be paid within two days, or risk “ramifications”.

Another received two debt letters totalling $4000. The woman was dealing with mental health issues, and has since been hospitalised for suicide attempts due to the stress.

Mr Wilkie has renewed calls for the Government to shut down the robo program.

“The Government clearly hasn’t learned its lesson from last year’s enormous backlash from the community, not to mention a parliamentary committee and the Ombudsman who found the program to be deeply flawed,” Mr Wilkie said.

“These are people who have done everything right and are still being hounded. The Government must step in and shut down this complete failure of a program. They must not be allowed to sweep this under the rug while thousands of Australians are wrongfully targeted.”

Figures released last September showed 600 Tasmanians had false or incorrect debts raised against them through the robo-debt program.

The Department of Human Services said the Commonwealth Ombudsman found the online system accurately calculated debts when the required information was entered; that it met all legislative requirements; and debts raised were consistent with the previous manual debt investigation process.