ACOSS is demanding an overhaul of the income support compliance system following shocking revelations that at least 10 people have died after being wrongfully cut off from vital payments.
"We have known for years that payment suspensions and cancellation have extremely harmful impacts on people, including homelessness, relationship breakdown and destitution," said ACOSS CEO Cassandra Goldie.
"Revelations today that at least 10 people have died after having their income support payments wrongfully cut off are shocking, devastating and demand an immediate response from the Federal Government.
"The Targeted Compliance Framework that cuts off people's payments must be urgently stopped and overhauled."
In November it was revealed that around 1,000 income support payments may have been illegally cancelled in the period between April 2022 and July 2024.
A previous computer failure that wrongly cut people off from income support was reportedly discovered by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations in 2020 but no action was taken for more than three years.
Following an ACOSS complaint, the Commonwealth Ombudsman is now investigating serious issues with the Targeted Compliance Framework with a focus on whether income support cancellations are being made in a way that is lawful, reasonable and fair.
The system has been plagued by errors in recent years, including previous instances of confirmed illegal payment cancellations and large scale IT problems leading to confusion and distress for people affected.
Since its introduction in 2018, ACOSS has consistently opposed the Targeted Compliance Framework and formally warned successive Ministers about the serious harm it causes, urging the payment suspensions to be stopped.
"Every three months 240,000 people - over a third of people in Workforce Australia - have their payment suspended. The TCF must be urgently removed to prevent further harm to people on low incomes," said Dr Goldie.
