ADVOCACY groups fear that vulnerable youth and people with disability might not have the resources and support to challenge possible incorrect Centrelink debt notices.
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Centrelink over the past months has been sending out notices advising welfare recipients of data discrepancies through matching Australian Tax Office data with its own records over a six-year period.
The notices have advised recipients to clarify if possible overpayments by the welfare agency had occurred.
Youth Network of Tasmania chief executive Joanna Siejka feared young people in particular might not have the knowledge and resources to challenge any miscalculated mistakes.
“Young people are considered to be a vulnerable cohort, and unless they have considerable support to do so, may be less likely to take the action required to query their Centrelink debt letter,” she said.
“They may not feel that they are able to confidently query a large government agency on their own,” she said.
Ms Siejka said young people made up a large component of the casualised, insecure workforce and would struggle to pay off unexpected debts.
“Extra pressures, such as aggressive and unexpected demands to pay debts … will potentially jeopardise their abilities to prioritise training and study,” she said.
Tasmanian Disability Education Reform Lobby founder Kristen Desmond said she was concerned that people with disability too might be pitted up against the bureaucratic system to challenge the debts without adequate resources and support.
“And some people may choose to repay the debt thinking that what has occurred is correct even thought that might not be the case,” she said.
A Human Services spokesperson defended the automated system.
“These are not debt letters, and at this stage of the process, no assumptions have been made about whether there is a debt,” they said.
The spokesperson said that the recipient has 21 days to update their information through the MyGov website.
They said if the information was not updated, and a debt was formally raised, the recipient had 42 days to make payment arrangements or the debt is sent to a debt collection agency.
Over 70 per cent of people who received a letter since September this year have had the matter resolved, the spokesperson said.
