Alan Tudge (Aston, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

In my remarks on this matter of public importance, about Centrelink, I will address some of the points which the member for Barton has made, but in doing that I would like to explain exactly how the system works, because, if you were listening to the member for Barton today, you would think that certain things occur which in fact do not occur. So let me at least take you through how the system works and the history of this system, which very much originates within the Labor Party.

How the system works is that, when a person is in receipt of Centrelink payments, they have to provide their income on a fortnightly basis in order to determine what sort of payment they receive. We look back at those Centrelink records and we compare them to the Australian Taxation Office records of the income that a person has received. So we compare the self-reported income that a person has given to Centrelink to what the employer has said that person earned, and that information is held at the Australian Taxation Office.

Where there is a discrepancy between those two sets of data, a notice is sent to the recipient, and they are asked if they can explain that discrepancy. In some cases, the person can explain the discrepancy, because in some cases the employer, for example, has given incorrect dates of when that person was employed. They may have said the person was employed from June to December when in fact it was from June to September, and the person is able to clarify that and consequently the issue goes away. But on many occasions the individual is unable to clarify the situation. If they are unable to do so or do not do so, then a debt may be issued against that person. At any particular time along the way, if they have got concerns, they can call a dedicated 1800 number and talk to a Centrelink officer in relation to that.

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