Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

(1) Clause 2, page 2 (table item 4), omit "Schedule 3", substitute "Schedules 3 and 4".

(2) Page 23 (after line 31), at the end of the Bill, add:

Schedule 4 — Time limit on debt recovery

Part 1 — Amendments

A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999

1 Section 93B

Repeal the section, substitute:

93B Time limit on debt recovery

For the purposes of this Part, legal proceedings, or any action under a provision of this Part, for the recovery of a debt may not be commenced after the period of 6 years starting on the day that the circumstances that gave rise to the debt first existed.

Paid Parental Leave Act 2010

2 Section 192A

Repeal the section, substitute:

192A Time limit on debt recovery

For the purposes of this Part, legal proceedings, or any action under a provision of this Part, for the recovery of a debt may not be commenced after the period of 6 years starting on the day that the circumstances that gave rise to the debt first existed.

Social Security Act 1991

3 Section 1234B

Repeal the section, substitute:

1234B Time limit on debt recovery

For the purposes of this Chapter, legal proceedings, or any action under a provision of this Chapter, for the recovery of a debt or overpayment may not be commenced after the period of 6 years starting on the day that the circumstances that gave rise to the debt or overpayment first existed.

Student Assistance Act 1973

4 Section 42B

Repeal the section, substitute:

42B Time limit on debt recovery

For the purposes of this Part, legal proceedings, or any action under a provision of this Part, for the recovery of a debt may not be commenced after the period of 6 years starting on the day that the circumstances that gave rise to the debt first existed.

Part 2 — Application of amendments

5 Application of amendments

The amendments made by this Schedule apply in relation to a debt that is raised or an overpayment that is made, before, on or after this item commences.

Noting that Labor has had ample opportunity since the robodebt royal commission to implement all of the recommendations of that commission, the government is dragging its feet on re-instigating a six-year limit on debt recovery. The Greens are moving this amendment to this bill because the government needs to act on this. Across other areas of the law—commercial law et cetera—it is accepted that if you haven't chased a debt after six years, then you need to forgo it, because people need certainty.

People on income support are already under enough stress, trying to get by, without having to be worried that a department that we know regularly makes errors in payments is going to come after them years down the track for debts that they owe because the government has made an error. I would submit to the government that when you give an unlimited timeframe to a department to chase debts, there is no incentive whatsoever to get the system right if they know that they can go after people for money six, 10, 15, 20 years after the fact because they stuffed up. That means that nobody in this country who has ever relied on income support payments can be sure, at any time in the future, even when they're not using income support anymore, that the government is not going to come after them for a debt at some point.

That is a genuine fear for people who have been on income support and who continue to remain on income support. You cannot underestimate the trauma and the harm of robodebt and what that means for everyone now on income support. I have spoken to people who are running down their superannuation savings because they have either lost loved ones or been impacted by robodebt and they are too frightened to go into Centrelink and subject themselves to a system that may chase them for a debt years down the track.

Why is it that there is a different standard for people on welfare compared to other areas of the law? I have asked the minister about this, and I've been told, 'We're working on it.' Well, it's a long time since the robodebt royal commission. You have been in government for four years. This is a key recommendation of the commissioner. So my question to you is: will you support this amendment to finally implement a key recommendation of the royal commission so that people on income support and people who have used the income support system in the past can have some level of certainty? Secondly, if you're not going to support this amendment today, when are you finally going to fix this?