7 years ago
TUDGE REFUSES TO ACT ON SENATE RECOMMENDATIONS ON ROBO DEBT
LINDA BURNEY MP
The Minister for Human Services, Alan Tudge has refused to act on recommendations made in a Senate Report on the Centrelink robo-debt disaster.
Over a nine month period, the Turnbull Government erroneously set debt collectors on around 20,000 innocent Australians, including thousands of elderly pensioners.
In June, the Senate Community Affairs References Committee delivered a scathing assessment of the Minister for Human Services Alan Tudge’s bungled robo-debt disaster.
The Senate Inquiry Report found that this system had a profoundly negative impact on the lives of thousands of vulnerable Australians.
The Report found that Mr Tudge ordered no risk assessment or proper planning before rolling out his robo-debt system, and stated it was: “so flawed it was set up to fail”.
The Senate Inquiry followed a scathing Ombudsman’s Investigation in April, which found that the system was neither reasonable nor fair, and was rolled out amid calls from welfare and community groups for the system to be suspended.
The Senate Inquiry produced 21 recommendations which effectively called for a radical overhaul of the system to make it workable.
The Turnbull Government’s refusal to act on the recommendations of the Senate Inquiry to overhaul the Online Compliance Intervention program is an insult to the thousands of decent Australians who were caught up in the conservatives robo-debt disaster.