Hundreds of local residents are being sent threatening letters every week from the Turnbull Government demanding payment of debts which they do not in fact owe.
The letters are part of the Turnbull Government’s new flawed Centrelink debt recovery system.
The letters demand payment plus a 10 per cent “recovery fee”.
The program has sent out approximately 169,000 letters to Australians and has an error rate of at least 1 in 5 – meaning that at least 4,000 honest Australians per week are being wrongly threatened.
People who try and rort the welfare system should be punished, but because of the Turnbull Government’s stuff up a lot of innocent people are being threatened and forced to repay debts they don’t owe.
Labor has called on the Australian National Audit Office to conduct an independent review into this scandal and to suspend this program until Malcolm Turnbull and his Liberals can be sure they aren’t sending bills to innocent Australians.
If you have received a debt notice, Malcolm Turnbull’s unfair policy means you need to enter into a repayment plan even if you are disputing the debt. I urge anyone affected to contact the Debt Recovery program on 1800 076 072.
ISSUED: 12 JANUARY 2017
MEDIA CONTACT: BENJAMIN GRANGER 02 9790 2466
