Showing posts with label #TurnbullGovernmentFAIL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #TurnbullGovernmentFAIL. Show all posts
Tuesday 8 May 2018
Ballina not happy with second-rate NBN installation plans
The
Northern Star,
4 May 2018:
BALLINA'S deputy mayor
is calling on residents to speak out against about the NBNCo's plans to deliver
"second class technology" to local residents.
Cr Keith Williams said
he had been contacted by residents in East Ballina, Skennars Head and Lennox
Head to say they would be getting "inferior" fibre to the node NBN
connections.
But he said fibre to the
kerb should be the minimum installation standard across the shire.
"We know that fibre
to the node places more reliance on the copper network, limits potential speeds
and is more expensive to upgrade," Cr Williams said.
"This places a real
limit on the economic potential of the area, not just now, but potentially for
years to come.
"It makes no sense
whatsoever when you consider that all these areas are close to the coast and
more exposed to the effects of salt water.
"This is precisely
the areas where you want less reliance on copper."
Cr Williams said failure
to oppose NBN rollout plans now, risked leaving residents in these areas with a
second class NBN.
"NBN Co have
insisted this is not second class technology, being essentially the same
technology as fibre to the kerb," he said.
"In this they are
correct, but they avoid the central point.
"The greater
reliance on the old copper network means it is a second rate service, slower,
more prone to dropouts and more expensive to upgrade.
"From my enquiries
to date it seems there is no formal mechanism to seek a review of the NBN Co
rollout plans.
"The only way these
things change is by community pressure and adverse publicity.
"I'm asking
everyone in the area to go to the NBN website, check what the rollout plans are
for your house and if it says Fibre to the Node, let NBN Co know that it just
isn't good enough.
"You deserve
better."
Wednesday 2 May 2018
The man who would be prime minister
“In
terms of ministerial oversight, the portfolio has the following ministers: the
Minister for Home Affairs, who sits in the cabinet and who is also separately
sworn as the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection; the Minister for
Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs; the Minister for Law Enforcement and
Cybersecurity; and the Assistant Minister for Home Affairs. The core functions
of the department are policy, strategy, planning and coordination in relation
to the domestic security and law enforcement functions of the Commonwealth as
well as managed migration and the movement of goods across our borders…..four portfolio agencies that sit alongside the
department, which are statutorily independent, but they are within the
portfolio. They all, like me, report to the cabinet minister. The Australian
Federal Police, ACIC, AUSTRAC and Australian Border Force. That is four. Then,
with the passage of relevant legislation that is currently before the
parliament, ASIO will move across soon.” [Secretary Dept. of Home Affairs Michael
Pezullo at Senate Estimates
Hearing, Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation
Committee, 26 February 2018]
The
worry about concentration of political power per se and that power in inappropriate hands…….
The
Saturday Paper,
28 April 2018:
Peter
Dutton is arguably the most powerful person in the country. In his new ministry
he has oversight for national security, for the Federal Police, Border Force
and ASIO, for the law enforcement and emergency management functions of the
Attorney-General’s Department, the transport security functions of the
Department of Infrastructure, Regional Development and Cities, the
counterterrorism and cybersecurity functions of the Department of Prime
Minister and Cabinet, the multicultural affairs functions of the Department of
Social Services, and the entire Department of Immigration and Border
Protection.
It is hard to imagine any member of
federal parliament less suited to exercise the sort of powers now held by
Dutton. It is easy to argue that no minister should be entrusted with such vast
powers. But the fact that those powers are in Dutton’s hands is seriously
alarming.
Ministerial powers are subject to
limits. The rule of law means that the limits are subject to supervision by the
judicial system. Most ministers understand that. Dutton apparently does not…..
On
April 7, 2018, Dutton called for “like-minded” countries to come together and
review the relevance of the 1951 Refugee Convention.
So,
here it is: Australia’s most powerful minister is wilfully mistreating innocent
people at vast public expense. He is waging a propaganda war against refugees
and against the people who try to help them. And he is trying to persuade other
countries to back away from international human rights protection.
He
tries to make it seem tolerable by hiding it all away in other countries, so
that we can’t see the facts for ourselves. [my
yellow highlighting]
Evidence
that the community concern is justified…….
MSM
News, 29
April 2018:
Ministers
are planning to make it easier for the government to spy on its own citizens, a
leaked document has revealed.
As
it stands, the Australian Federal Police and Australian Security
Intelligence Organisation need a warrant from The Attorney-General
to access Australians' emails, bank records and text messages.
But ministers are reportedly planning
to amend the Intelligence Services Act of 2001 to allow Home Affairs Minister
Peter Dutton and Defence Minister Marise Payne to give the
orders without the country's top lawyer knowing.
The
intelligence - which could include financial transactions, health data and
phone records - would be collected by a government spy agency called the
Australian Signals Directorate.
The
plan was revealed by a leaked letter from Home Affairs Secretary Mike
Pezzullo to Defence Secretary Greg Moriarty.
The
top secret letter, written in February and seen by The Sunday Telegraph,
details a plan to 'hack into critical infrastructure' to 'proactively disrupt
and covertly remove' cyber-enabled criminals including child exploitation and
terror networks.
In
March, the plan was outlined in a ministerial submission signed by Mike
Burgess, the chief of the Australian Signals Directorate.
It
states: 'The Department of Home Affairs advises that it is briefing the
Minister for Home Affairs to write to you (Ms Payne) seeking your support for a
further tranche of legislative reform to enable ASD to better support a range
of Home Affairs priorities.'
But
a proposal to change the law has not yet been made.
A
spokesman for the Defence Minister Ms Payne said: 'There has been no request to
the Minister for Defence to allow ASD to counter or disrupt cyber-enabled
criminals onshore.'
An
intelligence source told The Sunday Telegraph that the proposals could
spell danger for Australians.
'It
would give the most powerful cyber spies the power to turn on their own
citizens,' the source said.
The
letter also outlines 'step-in' powers which could force companies to hand over
citizens' data, the source added.
The
submission says the powers would help keep Australian businesses and
individuals safe. [my yellow highlighting]
The inherent dishonesty
of the Dept. of Home Affairs…..
Secretary of Department of Home
Affairs Michael Pezullo,
Senate
Estimates, Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, 26
February 2018, denying the possibility of by-passing the judiciary and “the country's top lawyer”:
As I said at the last
estimates meeting of this committee, all executive power is subject to the
sovereignty of this parliament and to the supremacy of the law. In bringing the
security powers, capabilities and capacities of the Commonwealth together into
a single portfolio, these fundamentals will remain in place. All of them are
crucial attributes of liberty. I repeat what I said last year to this
committee: any contrary
suggestion that the establishment of Home Affairs will somehow create an extra
judicial apparatus of power bears no relationship to the facts or to how our
system of government works, and any suggestion that we in the portfolio are
somehow embarked on the secret deconstruction of the supervisory controls which
envelop and check executive power are nothing more than flights of
conspiratorial fancy that read into all relevant utterances the master
blueprint of a new ideology of undemocratic surveillance and social control.
[my
yellow highting]
Ministerial denial - of sorts....
When confronted by the mainstream media Dutton supported government spying on its citizens, saying he believes there is a case to be made for giving the Australian Signals Directorate more powers to investigate domestic cyber threats, with appropriate safeguards in place and "If we were to make any changes ... I would want to see judicial oversight or the first law officer (attorney-general) with the power to sign off on those warrants".
Hands up everyone in Australia who will sleep well knowing that the tsar has spoken. *crickets*
Ministerial denial - of sorts....
When confronted by the mainstream media Dutton supported government spying on its citizens, saying he believes there is a case to be made for giving the Australian Signals Directorate more powers to investigate domestic cyber threats, with appropriate safeguards in place and "If we were to make any changes ... I would want to see judicial oversight or the first law officer (attorney-general) with the power to sign off on those warrants".
Hands up everyone in Australia who will sleep well knowing that the tsar has spoken. *crickets*
Sunday 29 April 2018
Turnbull Government has just placed a multinational corportion with an appalling human rights record at the first contact interface with the National Disability Insurance Scheme
“It has
a history of problems, failures, fatal errors and overcharging” [Senior
Appleby compliance officer quoted in The
Guardian on the subject of Serco, 7 June 2017]
A group implicated in: human rights abuses in prisons and immigration detention centres it has managed; poor to unsafe health service delivery including at Fiona Stanley Hospital in Perth, overcharging for services rendered under government contracts, fraudulent record keeping and manipulating results when there was a failure to reach targets; mishandling of radioactive waste and labour rights abuses.
The
Guardian, 23
Apri 2018:
Disability rights
groups, Labor and the Greens have slammed a decision to hire the multinational
outsourcing giant Serco in a key role administering the national disability
insurance scheme.
The National Disability
Insurance Agency (NDIA) announced
on Friday afternoon that Serco, a company with a chequered corporate
history, would help run its contact centres under a two-year contract.
The decision would put
the company at the frontline of the NDIS, interacting frequently with people
with disability and service providers, many of whom are still grappling with a
vast, complex and sometimes confusing scheme.
“Sourcing our contact centre services
from Serco will
give ongoing flexibility, responsiveness and value for money,” the NDIA said in
a statement.
But the decision has
outraged disability rights campaigners, who say Serco’s poor history abroad and
its lack of experience in disability should have precluded it from any role
delivering the landmark scheme.
People with Disability
Australia co-chief executive, Matthew Bowden, said he was “gravely concerned”
that Serco would, like other third-party providers, fail to uphold the values,
objectives and principles underpinning the NDIS.
“We have no details on
what expertise Serco have in providing communication services for people with
disability, or why the NDIA has decided to outsource such a vital part of its
services,” Bowden said.
“The NDIA needs to hire
more staff and make their communication avenues with people with disability
more transparent. Instead, they are offloading their responsibilities, and
requirements, to deliver services to people with disability.”
Paralympian Kurt
Fearnley was among those expressing concern at the decision, saying Serco would
be “racking their brains on how they can bring lived experience of disabilities
into their workplace”.
“The NDIS will be
worthless if people with disabilities aren’t at its core!” he tweeted.
Labels:
#TurnbullGovernmentFAIL,
disability,
fraud,
health,
human rights,
multinationals,
NDIS,
safety,
Serco
Friday 27 April 2018
Nationals MP for Page Kevin Hogan jumps on the bandwagon now royal commission is revealing truths about Australian banking, finance and insurance sectors
There has been some 'emergency' repositioning occurring in Turnbull Government circles since Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry hearings began to reveal the extent of bad behaviour in the banking, finance and insurance sectors.
Former money market and bond trader with State Bank of NSW & Colonial State Bank,
Posting a video clip of what appears to be the one occasion he openly expressed disappointment with a bank during a committee hearing last year.
Even though Hogan
was on the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics when it conducted
a 2016-17 inquiry into Australia’s four major banks and the Committee's recommendations clearly showed that the inquiry revealed serious deficiencies in bank practices, he has never been on his feet in
the House of Representatives calling the banks out for unethical behaviour or supporting a call for a royal commission.
He certainly never voted for the creation of such a royal commission in October 2016 or June 2017.
Perhaps
because the National Party of Australia has received over $1.15 million in
political donation from the banking, finance and insurance sectors since the 2012-13 financial year - and MPs probably expect more donations ahead of the forthcoming federal election?
The second
round of Royal Commission public hearings
is currently considering the conduct of financial services entities that provide financial advice to consumers, including the treatment of consumers, compliance with the law and community standards and expectations,and the sufficiency of the current legal and regulatory structure.
Mr. Hogan might allow himself to become a little more animated in his disapproval given some of the evidence involves the actions of independent financial advisers such as the jaw dropping example set out below,
But maybe not. There might be a smidgen of fellow feeling there, because Kevin Hogan just like the hapless Sam Henderson was also an independent superannuation consultant and before that had a regular financial segment on Sky News.
ABC
News, 24
April 2018:
A public servant was
impersonated while receiving financial advice from a high-profile financial
planner, the banking royal commission has heard.
Donna McKenna, who is a
Fair Work commissioner, told the inquiry she went to firm Henderson Maxwell
after seeing its chief executive Sam Henderson in the media.
Ms McKenna said if she
had followed the advice Mr Henderson gave her, she would have lost $500,000.
Mr Henderson followed Ms
McKenna in the witness stand.
The financial planner is
a regular media personality, with a show on Sky News Business channel and
articles published in the Australian Financial Review and Money Magazine.
Mr Henderson's appearance
before the commission did not get off to a good start, when it was revealed he
does not have a Master of Commerce degree, as stated in a 2016 financial
services guide from the firm.
The hearing was then
played a damning recording of a Henderson Maxwell employee impersonating Ms
McKenna in several phone calls to her super fund.
In the recordings, the
employee can be heard giving Ms McKenna's membership number and the State
Authorities Superannuation Scheme (SASS) representative refers to her as Donna….
he inquiry heard up to
six phone calls were made to the SASS super fund by Henderson Maxwell's
customer service officer.
Mr Henderson said the
information his employee had provided him about Ms McKenna's account was
inconsistent with the information given to him by Ms McKenna.
Mr Henderson refunded Ms
McKenna the nearly $5,000 in upfront advice fees she had paid.
The customer service
officer who impersonated Ms McKenna was not fired…..
Ms McKenna made a
complaint to the Financial Planning Association (FPA) about the quality of the
advice.
Despite complaining in
March last year, the complaint is still not finalised.
The inquiry heard Mr
Henderson responded to the complaint in a lengthy letter to the FPA, describing
Ms McKenna as "nitpicky" and her complaint as a "barrage of
aggressive and presumptive accusations".
In March this year, Mr
Henderson proposed a deal with the FPA that would see him admit to multiple
failings in the financial advice he provided to Ms McKenna and agree to
implement a number of changes at the firm.
The deal would have also
required the FPA to agree to not publish Mr Henderson's name in relation to the
proceedings.
The FPA wanted an
additional provision that would prevent Mr Henderson appearing in the media for
a year.
That proposal was not
acceptable to Mr Henderson and the complaint has not yet been formally resolved…..
Thursday 26 April 2018
Well hoorah, NBN Co is to roll out its inbuilt obsolescence across Yamba commencing in June 2018
It has been
reported in local media that NBN Co
will be commencing the Yamba rollout
of its allegedly high speed broadband in June 2018, with Maclean and Grafton rollouts
to commence in January 2019.
This news is
quite frankly underwhelming.
Whatever
information NBN Co was giving out obviously didn’t include the type of
connection that was on offer, as this important point was not mentioned by
journalists and there is contradictory information on the company's website.
These three urban
areas in the Clarence Valley are yet to hear if households and businesses are
being offered fibre-to-the-curb, fibre-to-the-node or fixed wireless.
Because it is
certain that the best option fibre-to-the-premises isn’t on offer to regional second cousins of the big metropolitan areas.
Personally I
will carefully refuse to look at any construction works taking place in Yamba
come June, July and August.
The sight of
all those water-filled trenches will be too depressing.
Who starts extensive
in-ground construction in winter at the low-lying, high water table mouth of a floodplain, I ask you?
* Image from Hakuri Sad Party
Wednesday 18 April 2018
Australian Minister for Communications and longstanding member of the far-right pressure group the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) is up in arms because Telecommunication Industry Ombudsman tells some home truths
On Tuesday 17 April the Telecommunication Industry Ombudsman (TIO) sent out the media
release in this post.
That same day the Australian Minister for
Communications and longstanding member of the far-right pressure group the Institute
of Public Affairs (IPA), Liberal Senator
for Victoria Mitch Fifield, came out fighting after the TIO report showed: complaints
about services delivered over the NBN surged by 204% in the second half of
2017, compared with the same period a year earlier…. Fifield said the way the
information regarding the 22,827 complaints about services delivered over the
NBN was presented in the TIO report, released Tuesday, “could give the
impression that responsibility for this figure rests with NBN Co”.
It looks suspiciously like the Minister is now approaching a scheduled review of telecommunications consumer protections and the complaints process with a view to quash an inconvenient truth – that transfers to the version of the National
Broadband Network (NBN) cobbled together by Tony Abbott and MalcolmTurnbull are a dismal failure for far too many Australian businesses and households.
Telecommunication
Industry Ombudsman (TIO), media
release, 17 April 2018:
Report highlights
increase in complaints about landline, mobile and internet services
Australian residential
consumers and small businesses made 84,914 complaints to the Telecommunications
Industry Ombudsman in the last six months of 2017 (1 July 2017 to 31 December
2017). In this period, complaints about landline, mobile and internet services,
increased by 28.7 per cent compared to the same six month period in 2016.
Publishing the
Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman’s Six Monthly Update today (Tuesday 17
April, 2018), Ombudsman Judi Jones said “The telecommunications industry in
Australia continues to experience significant change. An increasing range of
products and services are being offered to consumers, expectations for the
quality of phone and internet services are high, and the rollout of the
National Broadband Network is changing the way we use telecommunications
services.
“However, consumers
still seem to be facing the same problems, particularly with their bills and
the customer service they receive. Confidence in services being updated or
transferred reliably, faulty equipment, and poor service quality were also
recorded as key issues. Additionally, the wider issues relating to phone or
internet problems such as debt management are concerning.”
Jones added, “Complaints
about services delivered over the National Broadband Network continued to
increase compared to the same six month period in 2016. This indicates the
consumer experience is still not meeting expectations for all. Recent changes
to regulation and an increase in our powers to resolve complaints are positive
steps that will help improve the consumer experience.”
Highlights for the
period 1 July 2017 to 31 December 2017 include:
* 84,914 total
complaints were received
* 74,729 complaints (88
per cent) were from residential consumers
* 9,947 complaints (11.7
per cent) were from small businesses
Landline, mobile,
internet, multiple services and property
Complaints for the
period increased 28.7 per cent compared to the same six month period in 2016.
* 9,447 complaints (11.1
per cent) were recorded about landline phone services
* 24,923 complaints
(29.4 per cent) were recorded about mobile phone services
* 23,785 complaints (28
per cent) were recorded about internet services
* 26,112 complaints
(30.8 per cent) were recorded about multiple services*
* 647 complaints (0.8
per cent) were recorded about property*
* Charges and fees,
unsatisfactory response from the provider (provider response), and poor service
quality were the most common issues.
Small Businesses
Between 1 July and 31
December 2017 complaints from small businesses increased 15.6 per cent to 9,947
compared to the same period in 2016.
* Complaints from Small
Businesses accounted for 11.7 per cent of total complaints for the period
* 2,178 complaints (21.9
per cent) were recorded about landline phone services
* 2,074 complaints (20.9
per cent) were recorded about mobile phone services
* 1,716 complaints (17.3
per cent) were recorded about internet services
* 3,937 complaints (39.6
per cent) were recorded about multiple services*
* 42 complaints (0.4 per
cent) were recorded about property
* The
main issues affecting small businesses were charges and fees, unsatisfactory
response from the provider (provider response), and no service.
Complaints by State
All states and territories
in Australia saw a growth in complaints in the last six months of 2017 compared
to the same period in 2016.
Queensland recorded the
highest growth in complaints, an increase of 39.3 per cent, followed by Western
Australia with 36.5 per cent.
Complaints by state (in
alphabetical order) are as follows:
* Australian Capital
Territory made 1,184 complaints, an increase of 11 per cent
* New South Wales made
26,914 complaints, an increase of 27.9 per cent
* Northern Territory
made 504 complaints, an increase of 20 per cent
* Queensland made 16,418
complaints, an increase of 39.3 per cent
* South Australia made
6,552 complaints, an increase of 22.7 per cent
* Tasmania made 1,614
complaints, an increase of 33.1 per cent
* Victoria made 23,954
complaints, an increase of 30.5 per cent
* Western Australia made
7,381 complaints, an increase of 36.5 per cent
* The main issues
affecting Australian states and territories were charges and fees,
unsatisfactory response from the provider (provider response), and poor service
quality
Services delivered over
the National Broadband Network
Complaints about
services delivered over the National Broadband Network increased 203.9 per cent
to 22,827 on the same period in 2016.
* 14,055 complaints were
recorded about service quality
* 8,757 complaints were
recorded about delays in establishing a connection
* The
main issues affecting residential consumers and small businesses were
unsatisfactory response from the provider (provider response), poor service
quality, and connecting a service (connection/changing provider)
NOTES TO EDITORS
*From 1 July 2017, the
Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman changed the recording of complaints.
There are now five complaint service categories: landline phone services,
mobile phone services, internet services, multiple services (where the consumer
is complaining about more than one phone or internet issue), or a complaint
about damage or access to property. The changes mean data will more accurately
reflect the description of complaints given by residential consumers and small
businesses. The changes also make it easier to see the issues facing
the telecommunication industry, helping providers improve the delivery of phone
and internet services. Trend analysis will build over time from the start of
this reporting period.
Friday 13 April 2018
Alleged irrigator water theft heading for the courts?
A cousin by marriage of the current Australian Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources David Littleproud, John Norman, finds his agricultural business practices under scrutiny.....
The
Guardian, 9
April 2018:
Fraud charges are
expected to be laid against one of Queensland’s biggest cotton irrigators, John
Norman, within a matter of weeks.
If the trial of the
owner-operator of Norman Farming, and former cotton
farmer of the year goes ahead, it is likely to draw attention to the
links between the irrigator’s family and that of the federal minister for
agriculture and water resources, David Littleproud.
If the charges are laid,
they will also throw the spotlight on the Queensland government’s failure
in administering a key plank of the $13bn Murray-Darling basin plan, how it
withheld critical information about the alleged crimes, and how it raises
queries as to whether it lied about its own investigation.
For the past 18 months,
an expanding team of undercover detectives, cybercrime experts and forensic
accountants have been investigating Norman’s business on the Queensland/New
South Wales border, an irrigated cotton aggregate stretching 45km north from
the McIntyre river.
The investigation has
focused on whether Norman Farming misused upwards of $25m in
Murray-Darling basin infrastructure funds that were supposed to make the
irrigator more efficient and deliver water back to the ailing river system
downstream.
The plan for the basin
is funded by the commonwealth and administered by state governments. But
allegations that the $150m Healthy Headwaters Water Use Efficiency
projects in Queensland, part of the MDB plan, lacked any genuinely independent
checks on projects, means it may have been left open to corruption.
“It’s been a
loosey-goosey slush fund helping irrigators get richer,” according to Chris
Lamey, a dry-land farmer who’s seeking compensation from Norman, his neighbour.
“It’s achieved the opposite of what was intended. There’s a lot of water not
getting into NSW now and it’s backed up in dams next door to me.”
Queensland’s covert
police investigation into Norman Farming went
public in October 2017, when dozens of major crime squad detectives holding
multiple subpoenas fanned out from Goondiwindi in early-morning high-speed
convoys, heading across the floodplain to the irrigator’s properties and
several of its contractors in and around the border river town…..
Thursday 12 April 2018
The only Australians who do not recognise the cruel farce that is 'robo-debt' are right-wing politicians, ideologues and the just plain ignorant
“It is trite
maths that statistical averages (whether means or medians) tell nothing about
the variability or otherwise of the underlying numbers from which averages are
calculated. Only if those underlying numbers do not vary at all is it possible
to extrapolate from the average a figure for any one of the component periods
to which the average relates. Otherwise the true underlying pattern may be as
diverse as the experience of Australia’s highly variable drought/flood pattern
in the face of knowledge of ‘average’ yearly rainfall figures. Yet precisely
such a mathematical fault lies at the heart of the introduction from July 2016
of the OCI machine-learning method for raising and recovering social security
overpayment debts. This extrapolates Australian Taxation Office (‘ATO’) data
matching information about the total amount and period over which employment
income was earned, and applies that average to each and every separate
fortnightly rate calculation period for working-age payments.” [Terry
Carney AO, UNSW Law Journal, Vol 42 No 2, THE NEW
DIGITAL FUTURE FOR WELFARE: DEBTS WITHOUT LEGAL PROOFS OR MORAL AUTHORITY?,
p2]
The
Canberra Times,
5 April 2018:
The Coalition
government's "robo-debt" program has been unlawfully raising debts
with welfare recipients, wreaking "legal and moral injustice", a
former administrative appeals tribunal member has said.
Emeritus professor of
law at the University of Sydney Terry Carney, who was on the Administrative
Appeals Tribunal for 40 years and was its longest serving member until
finishing in September, has weighed into the debate over the controversial debt
collection method saying the Department of Human Services has no legal basis to
raise debts when a client fails to ‘disprove’ they owe money.
While Professor Carney
urged it be made to comply with the law, the DHS rejected his comments, saying
its Online Compliance Intervention program was consistent with legislation.
"Robo-debt" -
the subject of a Commonwealth Ombudsman report and a Senate inquiry recommending sweeping reforms to the
program - was at the centre of a maelstrom of controversy last year and remains
loathed by critics calling for change….
Writing in the UNSW Law
Journal last
month, he said that despite the DHS' stance it remained responsible for
calculating debts based on actual earnings, not assumed averages.
“Centrelink’s
OCI radically changed the way overpayment debts are raised by purporting to absolve Centrelink from its
legal obligation to obtain sufficient information to found a debt in the event
that its ‘first instance’ contact with
the recipient is unable to unearth information about actual fortnightly earnings.
As noted by the Ombudsman, the major change was that Centrelink would ‘no
longer’ exercise its statutory powers to obtain wage records and that the
‘responsibility’ to obtain such information now lies with applicants seeking to
challenge a debt. Writing a little later, the Senate Community Affairs
References Committee challenged this, contending that
6.13 It is a basic legal principle that in order to
claim a debt, a debt must be proven to be owed. The onus of proving a debt must
remain with the department. This would include verifying income data in order
to calculate a debt. Where appropriate, verification can be done with the
assistance of income support payment recipients, but the final responsibility
must lie with the department. This would also preclude the practice of
averaging income data to manufacture a fortnightly income for the purposes of
retrospectively calculating a debt. …” [Terry Carney AO, UNSW Law Journal, Vol
42 No 2, THE NEW
DIGITAL FUTURE FOR WELFARE: DEBTS WITHOUT LEGAL PROOFS OR MORAL AUTHORITY?,
pp3-4]
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