Government

Government launches welfare crackdown

AAP June 30, 2016

< 1 min read

“The government wants to ensure social security recipients receive their entitlement, no more and no less.”

These are the words of Human Services Minister Alan Tudge.

Tudge said this latest crackdown, announced on Tuesday, would apply to social security payments and builds on work launched last year.

The crackdown will involve matching data given to the tax office with data provided to Centrelink to ensure declared income matches actual income. Those with welfare debts will have money automatically deducted from their tax refund.

Tudge said income and assets tests applied to almost all benefits.

He said those with income and assets below certain thresholds were entitled to payments. Those whose incomes and assets exceeded the limits were not entitled to the payments.

“At the end of the day people should receive what they are entitled to – no more and no less,” Tudge said.

Treasurer Scott Morrison released the coalitions election costings on Tuesday with an improved budget position.

Tudge said the expected savings would be about 0.3 per cent of overall spending on welfare.

Labor frontbencher Ed Husic said it had to be an election when the coalition came out with a crackdown on welfare payments.

“Obviously they have costed it pre the election. They had this sitting in their back pocket,” he said.

Husic said some of this sounded so straightforward that you would wonder why some data matching wasn’t being done earlier.