Services Australia
Australia has $1.7b in unpaid child support. These MPs have a plan to claw it back
An eight-month parliamentary inquiry heard that unpaid child support was being used as a form of financial abuse.
- by Hamish Hastie
Latest
Editorial
Robo-debt royal commission
Shameless claim of victimisation in robo-debt scandal defies credibility
Robo-debt resulted in deaths and mental anguish among thousands of welfare recipients but one of the people who shaped the policy claims she is a victim too.
- The Herald's View
Anti-corruption body decided against robo-debt probe. Now it is being investigated
Last week, the anti-corruption commission said it would not launch an inquiry into robo-debt. That decision is now the subject of an investigation by the NACC’s inspector.
- by Paul Sakkal
Exclusive
Bill Shorten
Joeanne was stabbed while at work at Centrelink. She says it should never have happened
The career public servant was left battling severe pain and nerve damage and is unable to return to work, but hopes beefed-up security will keep others safe.
- by Caroline Schelle
Exclusive
Extreme weather
‘Opportunistic’ fraud and scams target disasters in a warming world
Financial criminals are exploiting Australia’s worsening climate disasters and extreme weather events, including fires, floods and cyclones.
- by Caitlin Fitzsimmons
Exclusive
Pension
The government agency with a backlog of more than one million claims
Services Australia is grappling with 1.1 million unprocessed health and welfare claims. Its new boss David Hazlehurst wants to halve that by the middle of this year.
- by Caitlin Fitzsimmons
Exclusive
Parental leave
How Amy’s newborn dream turned into a financial ordeal
The first time mother loved being home with baby Bernadette. But the months-long wait for parental leave payments became a financial problem.
- by Caitlin Fitzsimmons
Shorten vows to ‘re-humanise’ Services Australia in robo-debt response
The public service and Services Australia will be bolstered as the federal government vows to deliver “robo-justice” to welfare recipients affected by the Coalition’s unlawful debt recovery scheme.
- by Natassia Chrysanthos
Stuart Robert stood to gain financially from friends’ company, inquiry told
A parliamentary inquiry has heard a senior public servant met the owners of Synergy 360 at the home of a co-owner while the firm was advising clients on Services Australia contracts.
- by Michael Bachelard and Nick McKenzie
Centrelink knows if you’re hiding a relationship – but it’s complicated
The welfare agency is asking police to trawl through people’s metadata and in some cases crack their passwords to find out if they’re in a relationship.
- by Angus Thompson and Tim Biggs
Perth woman owed $200,000 in child support, with nothing anyone can do
Trish Price and her children are living in poverty while being owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in child support.
- by Rebecca Peppiatt
Original URL: https://www.smh.com.au/topic/services-australia-1nen