The Senate inquiry into Alan Tudge’s bungled robo-debt disaster has handed down a scathing report of the system, finding that it was doomed from its inception despite claims from the government that the system was “working well”.
The CPSU has urged the Turnbull Government to urgently implement the key recommendations of a Senate inquiry into the Centrelink robo-debt debacle, with the program still in force and now being rolled out to target pensioners.
Malcolm Turnbull must show some leadership and suspend his Government’s robo-debt mess with nearly half of all Australians disapproving of the scandal-plagued system.
Incompetent Human Services Minister Alan Tudge believes that those falsely accused of owing debt should have to hand over the money until they prove their own innocence but he reckons that Liberal MPs caught rorting the system should be given the benefit of the doubt.
Minister for Human Services, Alan Tudge, has announced for a second time that he will make changes to his error prone robo-debt system after thousands of honest Australians were targeted for inflated or non-existent debt, but he still will not apologise.
The Turnbull Government’s disastrous robo-debt system will soon target aged pensioners according to the Department of Human Services.
From 1 July this year the deeply flawed robo-debt system will seek to recoup nearly $1 billion from the pockets of pensioners.
Labor has accused the Australian government of breaching privacy laws by leaking confidential information about Centrelink customers.
The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has said its members will use the Senate inquiry into the Centrelink automated debt recovery debacle to reveal the full extent of "dysfunction" in the Department of Human Services (DHS).
Greens Senator Rachel Siewert will chair the investigation after the Australian Senate passed a motion on Wednesday to initiate an inquiry into the system that has some seen letters demanding money repayment sent in error to welfare recipients.
The Turnbull government says it is catching twice as many welfare cheats as Labor did in power, forcing those who lied to Centrelink to repay the extra money they took home.
Staff in the Department of Human Services including Centrelink workers are planning six days of rolling strikes over a stalled enterprise bargaining process and the auto-debt recovery program, according to the Community and Public Sector Union.
The union said Centrelink, Medicare and child support workers would strike and take other forms of industrial action at various times and various locations starting on 13 February.
The federal government has again defended Centrelink's debt recovery system, saying the practice is not new and has been in place since 1990.
