News
Prime Minister Scott Morrison – who was social services minister when the robo-debt scheme was conceived and as treasurer touted the billions of dollars it was supposed to rake in – has denied responsibility for the welfare debacle which has resulted in a $1.2 billion class action settlement.
National
Welfare groups will put the case for a permanent extension of increased unemployment payments at a parliamentary committee hearing on Wednesday.
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Government Services Minister Stuart Robert has claimed credit for ending the catastrophic robodebt scheme, after the government agreed to settle a $1.2 billion class action and compensate 400,000 Australians over the unlawful welfare debt recovery program.
The federal government’s illegal welfare debt recovery program was a policy fiasco that has cost taxpayers $1.2 billion and caused immeasurable stress and damage to hundreds of thousands of welfare recipients, argues Peter Whiteford.
Emergency pandemic welfare money suddenly lifted some of the poorest people in Melbourne out of poverty, according to new research – but they began slipping back when payments were reduced.
Job seekers will have 48 hours to contact job employment providers before their payments are temporarily cut, after it was revealed that 74,434 welfare payments were suspended in the month since Centrelink’s mutual obligations regime returned.
UPDATED: Some Family Tax Benefit recipients won’t receive their lump sum or be able to dispute debts until at least February 2021 – seven months after they lodged payment claims with Centrelink – due to a staged lifting of a debt freeze imposed due to the pandemic.
