Tag: senate
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Senate committee says Centrelink was ‘set up to fail’
Centrelink’s controversial automated debt recovery service has fundamental flaws in its infrastructure and should be suspended until they have been addressed, according to a Senate committee dominated by the Labor and Greens parties. The Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs has claimed that the system has had a “profoundly negative impact on the lives of…
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Senate defeats changes to Racial Discrimination Act
The Senate has defeated proposed changes to the language of Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act in a late-night session. The Government’s proposal had been to alter the language constituting what could be considered an race-based offence, replacing the uses of the words “insult”, “offend” and “humiliate” with the term “harass”. The move has…
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Centrelink overpayment errors ‘not counted’
The Senate inquiry into Centrelink’s automated debt recovery system has found that the system has not kept track of how many overpayment errors were caused by the agency itself. Greens senator Rachel Siewert has called for greater clarity from the government service on the functionality and reliability of the new automated system. “I think it…