Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this evening to speak about this government's relentless debt collection against people on income support. It was revealed through questions on notice through estimates that the government issued 11,771 people with a debt notice after a review of their income support payments and any JobKeeper income that was paid to them by their employer. It is unconscionable and frankly outrageous that the government is chasing income support recipients for so-called debts when billionaires collected millions of dollars in JobKeeper while turning significant profits. There is a clear double standard between the individuals receiving income support and businesses who claimed JobKeeper. The government is clearly demonstrating these double standards. I'm certain that the vast majority of those so-called debts will be genuine mistakes in a confusing system, if in fact they are debts at all.

I raised this issue again and again in the COVID committee and at estimates, trying myself to make sense of the system. The government knew that people on both JobSeeker and JobKeeper might receive over-payments. The government says that they were doing checks, and I question how significant and how effectively those checks were carried out. The same agency that was responsible for robodebt, Services Australia, told me they were undertaking a compliance review of so-called high-risk customers. But, with the rate of coronavirus supplement decreasing and the stepping down of JobKeeper, people were confused about the rules and requirements. There were hundreds of thousands of people who were dealing with Centrelink for the first time. It's no wonder there was mass confusion. There are still so many unanswered questions. Did Centrelink do their due diligence and get in touch with every single person they thought might be at high risk? Why weren't the rules clearer? How can we trust the government that was responsible for robodebt to raise debts correctly and fairly? The short answer is we can't.

Meanwhile, the government is allowing big businesses that made huge profits while receiving JobKeeper to keep those funds. When will those billionaires get their debt notices? It is simply unconscionable to allow them to keep the millions when they have made significant profits and when the government has chased people on income support. It is simply a joke for the government to say both JobSeeker and JobKeeper programs had strong compliance frameworks. Clearly they failed. We had huge corporations and exclusive private schools getting millions in payments and they don't have to pay anything back. I simply cannot see why the government can't see why this is nonsense, and apparently they can't be shamed into giving the money back.

Meanwhile, people who are doing it the toughest are the ones that are getting treated this way. People who lost their jobs in the pandemic and who received assistance when they needed it most are now getting a kick in the teeth. If billionaires can keep their JobKeeper payments while making huge profits, then people who sought support during the pandemic and may have made a mistake should not be punished. The government should focus on giving people on income support higher payments to get through the latest lockdown, instead of chasing others, some of whom may be in lockdown. The government couldn't answer that question from me today about whether and how many people that are currently in lockdown have received these notices. People in lockdown right now in New South Wales and Victoria who couldn't find more than eight hours work are living on just $44 a day. They can't afford to pay rent, put food on the table or buy essential items. People are in serious financial distress. They are being pushed to the limit, and what does this government do? It sends them a debt notice. It is unconscionable. The government should write to those people and withdraw those debt notices and send the debt notices to the billionaires, who should be paying back that JobKeeper money out of the profits that they made during the pandemic. I'm not against people making profits. I am against them making profits through JobKeeper.