Welfare debts to be wiped for 200,000 Australians

Almost 200,000 people who spent years fighting to clear welfare debts they didn’t owe will have any active Centrelink investigations wiped.

7News.com.au reports the Federal Government will scrap the cases of robodebt victims still under review, with any potential debt no longer being pursued.

The unlawful debt recovery scheme started in 2015 and falsely accused welfare recipients of owing money to the government.

More than $750 million was wrongfully recovered from 381,000 people.

The website reported Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said clearing the outstanding cases would offer certainty to any Australians with reviews hanging over their heads.

Ms Rishworth said pursuing the cases would be expensive and time-consuming, and would undermine public confidence in the welfare system.

“The robodebt fiasco is something that should be of deep concern to all Australians. We know it had a significant human cost,” she said.

Read the full report here.

Photo: Ehud Neuhaus/Unsplash