“Ripped to shreds”: Man “hounded” by Centrelink while battling cancer in hospital
A cancer-stricken grandfather says Centrelink debt collectors badgered him over a $2,300 debt he did not owe as he underwent medical treatment.
Raymond Murphy said the government pursued the money from him as part of the controversial robodebt scheme, an automated debt recovery system that issues notices to Australians who were detected to be reporting a different amount of income to what their employer reported to the tax office.
Murphy said he had to sell his home to pay for cancer treatment. While he was being treated in hospital, debt collectors claimed he was overpaid by Centrelink years ago and hounded him for repayments.
“They have no respect for me at all, I am classed as a criminal and I am guilty and I have to prove my innocence,” Murphy told A Current Affair.
“But in that, they can’t supply the paperwork to prove how they came about to say I had a debt.
“For a measly $2300, I’m getting ripped to shreds.”
Murphy said he and others have been told they must prove they do not owe the money even though the debts refer to payments dating back years ago and they no longer have the documentation to clear their names.
Earlier this week, the government announced that the robodebt scheme will be reformed in a major overhaul.
The Guardian Australia reported that the department of human services stated in an internal email that it would “no longer [raise] a debt where the only information it relies on is [its] own averaging of Australian Taxation Office income data”.
The department said it will seek more information to confirm if a debt exists even if the notice recipient “did not respond to our requests of clarification”.
“That small cohort of Australians that have a debt crystallized solely on income averaging, my department will reach out and contact them over the coming weeks,” government services minister Stuart Robert said.
Two court challenges against the robodebt program will proceed despite the overhaul. Bill Shorten confirmed on Wednesday that a class action with law firm Gordon Legal will continue to argue that the government has been “unjustly enriching itself at the expense of social security recipients”, with 4,000 plaintiffs taking part so far.
Victoria Legal Aid said Deanna Amato’s federal court case, due to be heard on December 2, will also proceed to raise concerns around Centrelink’s income averaging method as well as the agency’s use of penalty fees and seizure of people’s tax returns.