Antipoverty Centre
@antipovertycentre.org
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The experts on poverty are the people who live it. Break the poverty machine #BTPM 🍞🌹🏡
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antipovertycentre.org
We're very excited that our beautiful posters featuring art by
@judykuo.bsky.social are ready for printing!

If you can comfortably afford to do so, we'd be so grateful if you can chip in to help cover costs. Contributions of $25+ get a free poster.

Donate here: donate.stripe.com/bIY4gFbx09V9...
Pale green poster with illustrations representing what people could afford to do when some Centrelink payments were increased to the poverty line in 2020. Pale pink poster with the same illustrations as the green version. This one includes large text saying "Centrelink payments above the poverty line. Abolish mutual obligations." A blue version of the previous poster with text. A peach version of the poster without text.
antipovertycentre.org
It is in fact the very same report.
Reposted by Antipoverty Centre
jbau.bsky.social
$10m of fraud recovered from the Australian “job provider” system in the last 3 years and not one provider removed from the system.

So welfare recipients lose their ability to pay for shelter or food due to other people’s errors, but job providers face no consequences for fraud.
antipovertycentre.org
Lmao the employment department has recovered 10.6 MILLION from providers due to fraud tip-offs over 3 years, and not shut down a single provider.

Reminder: They spend 4 BILLION A YEAR on this system, which is about 25% of how much they spend on JobSeeker payments each year.
antipovertycentre.org
And we know that the $10 million doesn't even scratch the surface.
antipovertycentre.org
Ok that's all for now.

Thanks for following along folks, and thanks to the Senators who attempted to bring some form of accountability to the bureaucrats who are wreaking havoc in 1000s of poor people's lives on a daily basis without a care in the world.
antipovertycentre.org
They sure do! Just got a bunch of new contracts in the rebranded disability employment service 🥰
Contract notice from 17 September 2025 showing a $376 million contract for Wise Employment.
Reposted by Antipoverty Centre
againstcorruption.bsky.social
#auspol
How much more evidence is required until they get rid of it. Find the job network ‘providers’ a new job in mining or something
antipovertycentre.org
Allman-Payne quotes a DEWR director referred to as MR15 in the Deloitte report who says: "The TCF is a process that wasn’t designed with fairness in mind… If the function of the TCF is to penalise people, then it’s fulfilling its role, but that’s not the intention of a fair system."
antipovertycentre.org
30 significant breach notices issued to providers since 2022.

For some reason, only 2 of those were in the past 2 years.

Somehow zero providers have been removed from the system.
antipovertycentre.org
Allman-Payne: If someone wants to challenge a payment suspension, do you hold the information you need in the system?

DEWR: There may be information we can access... such as if there was a reasonable excuse.

So, if a reasonable was excuse recorded, why was there a suspension?
antipovertycentre.org
Allman-Payne: Would providers be financially viable if you stopped payment suspensions?

The department says they "can't answer".

That's not true. We know, because we've been told directly that's a problem. By them.
antipovertycentre.org
Absolutely laughable for DEWR to claim they "expect" that the vast majority of provider time is spent on providing "services" (rather than compliance).
antipovertycentre.org
Allman-Payne: What percentage of the welfare cops' work is related to compliance, as opposed to (supposedly) helping people.

DEWR: We frankly have no fucking clue (once again we paraphrase).
antipovertycentre.org
The department notes, "the robust nature of the recommendations", which we note are totally inconsistent with their *findings* that the department doesn't even seem to have enough information in its IT system to determine whether or not payment suspensions are lawful.
antipovertycentre.org
Naturally DEWR is avoiding the question and refusing to say whether or not they constrained the scope of Deloitte's recommendations.
antipovertycentre.org
Allman-Payne: Was Deloitte directed to provide recommendations that continued the TCF, or did they have freedom to make any recommendation including stopping suspensions?
antipovertycentre.org
Payman: Why are you maintaining a system that "The Labor *party* platform notes can be punitive, cause stress and anxiety, and can be a barrier to employment?"

Senator Jess Walsh responds by explaining that the Labor *government* believes the best form of welfare is a job 👍
antipovertycentre.org
How many people does the department believe had their payment cancelled unlawuflly?

DEWR: 🤷

We note that the department first discovered some of these issues in 2020.
antipovertycentre.org
Payman: Are there any consequences for Deloitte producing a dodgy report (paraphrase) such as not being able to get future contracts?

DEWR secretary: Waffles on.
antipovertycentre.org
Now they are downplaying figures again, returning to the figure of ~600 people being compensated ... studiously avoiding Senator Payman's question about the 300,000+ people potentially harmed by 42AM cancellations.
antipovertycentre.org
Telling us about how great the CDDA compensation scheme is – both we and EJA strongly urged the department to provide REAL compensation, which is not available under CDDA. People will not be compensated for distress or other harm caused under CDDA, and have to jump through hoops to prove "detriment"
antipovertycentre.org
DEWR is once again misrepresenting how many people "no longer need a payment" or "don't experience detriment" when their payment is cancelled.

We'd love to see the figures on just how many ART cases they've settled to try and avoid decisions that go that exact issue.
antipovertycentre.org
@fatima-payman.bsky.social has asked exactly how many people have been affected by an unlawful payment cancellation or reduction, given the recent EJA report showing one issue alone could affect up to 310,000 people.

You can read the EJA report here: www.ejaustralia.org.au/eja-briefing...
EJA Briefing: Analysis of payment cancellations under 42AM of the Social Security Administration Act 1999 | Economic Justice Australia
www.ejaustralia.org.au
Reposted by Antipoverty Centre
nwind.bsky.social
This
antipovertycentre.org
In summary, "mutual" obligations must be abolished.

There is no amount of "reform" that can prevent harm in a system built on coercion and compulsion.
Reposted by Antipoverty Centre
petabytes.bsky.social
All of these hearings, inquiries, and deep dives into social security demonstrate that the people making decisions and assertions about how the system operates have no real idea how it works in practise (and imo many of them really don't care).
antipovertycentre.org
"If they don't deliver, they don't get paid,"

The first flagrant lie from the employment department in today's senate estimates hearing about the welfare cops who profit from poverty. No doubt there will be much more bullshit to come!
antipovertycentre.org
If you want to watch the employment department defend their unlawful operation of compulsory activities (so-called mutual obligations), you can tune in to the senate estimates hearing here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WId...
Reposted by Antipoverty Centre
kristin8x.antipovertycentre.org
Things that have been missed in the conversation about unlawful administration of compulsory activities (so-called mutual obligations) include...

People do be wondering, what would Labor do if they were in charge during robodebt? And the answer is, you're looking at it.
antipovertycentre.org
Allman-Payne quotes a DEWR director referred to as MR15 in the Deloitte report who says: "The TCF is a process that wasn’t designed with fairness in mind… If the function of the TCF is to penalise people, then it’s fulfilling its role, but that’s not the intention of a fair system."