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CENTRELINK’S “threatening” debt recovery letters have reached the next level and Australians are terrified, according to a radio host who angrily confronted the government.
The notes sent to people in selected locations now feature the Australian Federal Police logo at the top and warn recipients they could face losing their payments, a criminal record or a jail sentence.
“These letters are being received by people who have done nothing wrong,” Tasmanian radio host Brian Carlton told Human Services Minister Alan Tudge in an explosive interview last week. “They are being monstered by their own government. You are scaring the willies out of them. Please stop it.”
Mr Tudge said he did not agree the letter would “scare the bejesus out of people”, insisting it was “a straightforward letter which says ‘are your details up to date?’” But Mr Carlton said he had heard from multiple listeners who did not see it that way.
The full Centrelink/AFP logo scare letter, complete with invitation to dob in your fellow Australians. pic.twitter.com/W3Euhsift2 — Jen (@juniperlilacs) August 4, 2017
“This is about targeting particular areas which we know are likely to have high incidences of welfare fraud and welfare ... based on detailed analysis from the AFP and from data analysis,” Mr Tudge said. “We know that while the vast majority of people do the right thing when they receive welfare — they are constantly updating their details, be it their income or their relationship status — the unfortunate reality is, Brian, that some people do not do the right thing and either deliberately or inadvertently fail to update their details.
“This work, Taskforce Integrity, has already uncovered about $30 million of overpayments, including one instance where it was a person who owed more than $100,000.”
Mr Carlton, however, said it was one thing to remind people to update their details but “overkill” to “target them by postcode” and threaten them with prison sentences.
The LAFM host also linked the penalisation of ordinary people updating their details to the errors made by politicians engulfed in the citizenship scandal, including Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce. “All of these senators who have had to leave the Parliament under a cloud of citizenship they will be paying back the money they took from the taxpayer, will they?” he asked. “The double standard is extraordinary.”
Mr Tudge insisted there was “no allegation in the letter” and said it deliberately thanked people who had updated their details accurately, but Mr Carlton was having none of it.
“It is threatening. It is threatening. I am sorry I have got a copy of it in front of me, Minister. It is threatening ... The second final paragraph; committing welfare fraud can result in a loss of payment; a debt to be repaid; attending court; a criminal record; or a prison sentence. Pretty clear.
“These are Australian citizens, elderly, vulnerable Australians that you are scaring the crap out of.
“Get your many scouts out to find out those individuals [who are exploiting the system] and you prosecute them until the cows come home, Minister, and you would get no argument from me for doing so.
“But sending out spray letters to people who have done nothing with an AFP logo and threatening them with jail is inappropriate.
“Just remove the logo, remove the AFP, remove the threats. Ask the people to update their information and be done with it.
“If they choose not to, and they are in breach of the law then chase them down as individual. But spraying out stuff like this to innocent people is not something that a democratic government does. You do not deserve to be in power.”
Campaigner Asher Wolf told news.com.au: “The campaign against robodebts grew from a desire for procedural justice. We identified multiple flaws in DHS’ automated data matching system leading to people receiving letters for alleged debts they didn’t actually owe. And we thought that was outrageous and unacceptable and needed to be stopped. Particularly after Andy Fox’s DHS data was leaked to the media, we found people were scared of their government. And that’s worrying. People shouldn’t be scared of their governments, governments should be scared of their people.
“Welfare is meant to benefit people, and ensure a safety net for the most in need, not police and brutalise them. We heard story after story of people terrified and scared of the government after finding robodebt letters in the mail and were unsure how to proceed. We found that when people challenged robodebts their debt amounts were often downgraded or wiped completely.
“Lyndsey Jackson set up the Not My Debt website to collect stories of people’s tragic experiences of robodebts and together we networked organisations and individuals to work together to speak out and challenge false robodebts.
“Automated data matching systems governed by flawed algorithms are immensely problematic: the Coalition needs to take responsibility for the deeply flawed IT projects it unlea