4 years ago
NOW ROBODEBT VICTIMS CAN RAISE THEIR VOICES
BILL SHORTEN MP
The Government is deliberately obstructing and stonewalling Australians who are trying to highlight problems in the robodebt system - so Labor has launched a website for victims to tell their stories.
When confronted with entrenched problems in the debt compliance scheme Government Services Minister Stuart Robert says people need only go into Centrelink to clear up any discrepancies.
This is not the experience of many, many Australians who have struggled to get their voices heard about their horror robodebt experiences.
This Government is clearly not interested in hearing the truth about Australians’ horror robodebt experiences. But now those Australians who have been victims of the harsh and inaccurate robodebt scheme can tell their story to people who will listen via new website yourrobodebtstory.org.au
This week I met with single-dad Sam Martin in Maroubra who was hounded by the Government for a false debt of $5000. Working hard to make ends meet, Sam feared he and his daughter would face “financial ruin”. After weeks of stress trying to make the authorities see the light, Sam reached out to the office of his local MP Matt Thistlethwaite for help. Eventually Centrelink admitted there was an error and scrubbed the entire claimed debt. We all know Sam is not alone, and not all robodebt stories have a resolution like his.
While robodebt fabulist Stuart Robert arrogantly claims there are no major problems with his robodebt scheme, more than 100,000 Australians have been hounded for debts that later had to be wiped.
But with an error rate that even the Liberals admit is at least one-in-five and innocent people being hounded by the Government for money they don’t owe, the ducking and weaving has to stop.
When confronted with entrenched problems in the debt compliance scheme Government Services Minister Stuart Robert says people need only go into Centrelink to clear up any discrepancies.
This is not the experience of many, many Australians who have struggled to get their voices heard about their horror robodebt experiences.
This Government is clearly not interested in hearing the truth about Australians’ horror robodebt experiences. But now those Australians who have been victims of the harsh and inaccurate robodebt scheme can tell their story to people who will listen via new website yourrobodebtstory.org.au
This week I met with single-dad Sam Martin in Maroubra who was hounded by the Government for a false debt of $5000. Working hard to make ends meet, Sam feared he and his daughter would face “financial ruin”. After weeks of stress trying to make the authorities see the light, Sam reached out to the office of his local MP Matt Thistlethwaite for help. Eventually Centrelink admitted there was an error and scrubbed the entire claimed debt. We all know Sam is not alone, and not all robodebt stories have a resolution like his.
While robodebt fabulist Stuart Robert arrogantly claims there are no major problems with his robodebt scheme, more than 100,000 Australians have been hounded for debts that later had to be wiped.
But with an error rate that even the Liberals admit is at least one-in-five and innocent people being hounded by the Government for money they don’t owe, the ducking and weaving has to stop.