Services Australia Asked to Consider Wiping Off 100,000 Potentially Miscalculated Debts

About 100,000 people could potentially have their debts cancelled by Services Australia, which is responsible for delivering government payments, after the agency was found to have unlawfully apportioned income. A new report (pdf) published on Dec. 4 by the Commonwealth Ombudsman revealed that Services Australia and the Department of Social Services (DSS) made a mistake in apportioning, or spreading out, income to calculate social security payment rates. The issue took place from 2003, and potentially earlier, to December 2020.  The agencies have been aware of the problem since October 2020 but haven’t addressed the issue in a timely manner. “Services Australia and DSS did not act promptly to address this issue—in the three years the agencies have known about this issue, we expected more action to have been taken to address it,” the report said. ...