Australian Woman with disabilities has $92k Centrelink debt after misreporting for 12 years

Shirley-Anne Brown (left), pictured with her daughter Karina, owes Centrelink more than $90,000.(ABC Capricornia: Jasmine Hines)

Shirley-Anne Brown is 60 years old and has a Centrelink debt totalling $92,337.

She is making $50 repayments each fortnight, so by the time her debt is paid off she will be 131.

The Rockhampton woman is among a growing group of vulnerable people racking up huge debts through a flaw in the Federal Government’s welfare system according to Economic Justice Australia, an organisation for community legal centres.

“When you get to 60 years of age, that’s a lot of money to have to think about paying back when your life is so far in,” she said.

“I was raising five little kids and I didn’t know if they were paying me too much or not enough.

Mrs Brown’s family said it accepted responsibility for the debt, but wished more had been done to prevent it from happening in the first place.

Mrs Brown has a neurological cognitive dysfunction and has been partially paralysed since the age of six.

Daughter and advocate Karina Brown said her mother was issued with the debt notice in 2016 after misreporting her partner’s income for 12 years while receiving the disability support pension and family tax benefit.

“We were still somewhat struggling, living pay cheque to pay cheque.”

Mrs Brown and her husband, David, had been reporting annually for the family tax benefit and the disability support pension, when she should have been reporting fortnightly for the latter.

On top of their communication mix-up, Centrelink sent reminder letters, but Mrs Brown said her cognitive impairment affected her memory and comprehension of them.

The family appealed to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in June to have the debt waived, arguing special circumstances because of Mrs Brown’s impairment, but the case was dismissed.

Now, Miss Brown has called on Services Australia to change its reporting system.

“If you want to do it right, then you should be doing it right by the people.

“You have to listen to what you’re doing wrong and actually change it.”

Debt until the grave, case ‘not unusual’

Karina Brown said she was concerned her mother would have the debt until her “grave” and that assets could be taken from the family if they declared bankruptcy.

Shirley-Anne Brown and her husband were still paying off their mortgage on the family home, but had inherited another house from Mr Brown’s parents.

Economic Justice Australia executive officer Leanne Ho said Mrs Brown’s case was not unusual, with members across Australia reporting similar cases for “many years”.

“Centrelink has been raising these very large debts against families who believe they’re correctly reporting their income and have no idea Centrelink is actually overpaying them,” Ms Ho said.