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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
Ty @jennaprice.bsky.social for this article (🔗 below), particularly for sharing a quote that exposes the minister actively lying about what her proposal does.

It will not at all work like a payment suspension for someone on remand – it is a payment cancellation and there is no access to ART review.
Now, Tanya Plibersek, the minister for social services and ever the peacemaker, told morning television this week that there would need to be strong evidence and that cutting off benefits wouldn't be quite as cut and dried as all that. "After considering any dependents, making sure that we look after the dependents, that person can have their social security benefit cancelled the same way they would if they were waiting on remand to be tried for a serious crime." But guess who this amendment is going to impact the most? No guesses needed. Hannah McGlade, a member of the UN permanent forum on Indigenous issues and an Aboriginal human rights law expert, is blunt: "It's going to have a disproportionate impact on Aboriginal people who are already overpoliced and are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system," she says. There is systemic discrimination against Aboriginal people in Australia - and that's never really been addressed by this government. A bit of tinkering here and there. But we know dispossession leads to poverty and as McGlade puts it: "We mustn't underestimate the impact of poverty and its relationship to crime."
November 6, 2025 at 11:09 PM
antipovertycentre.org
A reminder of who is concerned.

We say again: If you think you're doing the right thing, you don't do it like this. You don't lash out, run from even the smallest amount of public pressure or seek to hide this amendment in an unrelated bill and reject all parliamentary scrutiny.
November 6, 2025 at 2:51 AM
antipovertycentre.org
As well as the Law Council of Australia, more disability peak bodies have come out to oppose the sudden introduction of new powers for police & ministers to cancel social security for people accused of a serious offence.
Australian Autism Alliance Children and Young People with Disability Community Mental Health Australia Down Syndrome Australia Inclusion Australia National Ethnic Disability Alliance Physical Disability Australia Women with Disabilities Australia
November 5, 2025 at 11:44 PM
antipovertycentre.org
Now @justiceandequity.bsky.social has added its name to the list of groups opposing this draconian and underhanded move.

These are the groups @tanyaplibersekmp.bsky.social has dismissed. She refuses to address concerns about separation of powers, due process and unintended consequences.
Groups supporting the call for the government to abandon the amendment: Anglicare Australia | Antipoverty Centre | Anti-Poverty Network SA  | Australian Council of Social Services | Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union | Community Restorative Centre | Consumers of Mental Health WA | Council of Single Mothers and their Children | Disability Advocacy Network Australia | Economic Justice Australia | Everybody’s Home | Justice and Equity Centre | Mental Health Lived Experience Peak Qld | National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (NATSILS) | NSW Council for Civil Liberties | Queensland Advocacy for Inclusion | Single Mother Families Australia | Wirringa Baiya Aboriginal Women’s Legal Centre To add your organisation to this list contact media at antipovertycentre.org
November 5, 2025 at 12:54 AM
antipovertycentre.org
Meanwhile, it seems the government wants to do away with the foundation of their legal system for the sake of optics and because News Corp said so.

Ty @amyremeikis.bsky.social for reporting. Follow The Point live blog here for updates as they come: live.thepoint.com.au
The amendment that would give police powers over welfare is still floating around - the unrelated bill it has been tacked on to seems a bit of a mess, so there might be some further action in addressing the whole thing today, but maybe don't hold your breathe. There seems to be a lot of people worried about 'perceptions' rather than what is actually at stake. These slides into further authoritarian powers are usually because all of these incremental fights were seen as too difficult or not worth the discomfort. So it is always a death of a thousand cuts, rather than one big swoop, but you only need look at the protest laws to see how these things creep up over you. It doesn't stop.
November 4, 2025 at 11:50 PM
antipovertycentre.org
“In the wake of robodebt @albomp.bsky.social promised accountability, compassion & reform... If Labor wants to restore trust, it must scrap this amendment. Welfare policy should be grounded in fairness... it should never, ever be used as a proxy for criminal justice.” @zoewundenberg.bsky.social
Canberra Times article by Zoe Wundenberg, “Punishment is hurting families”. Link to article in next post.
November 4, 2025 at 9:57 PM
antipovertycentre.org
The government has now added ANOTHER last minute amendment, specifically to introduce automated decision making into the handling of Centrelink debts.

@tanyaplibersekmp.bsky.social this bill is a mess.
Secretary may arrange for use of computer programs to make decisions (1) The Secretary may arrange for the use, under the Secretary’s control, of computer programs for any purposes for which an officer may make a decision that is the doing of a thing under section 43D (waiver of small debt) or section 44 (non-recovery of certain amounts). (2) A decision made by the operation of a computer program under an arrangement made under subsection (1) is taken to be a decision made by the Secretary.
November 4, 2025 at 1:49 AM
antipovertycentre.org
The people who entrapped and radicalised a 13 year old boy are about to be given the power to tell the government to cancel a person's Centrelink payment if they are suspected of a serious offence and cannot be located.
ABC headline from February 2024: Australian Federal Police says it would repeat undercover terror operation on autistic teenager.
November 3, 2025 at 10:19 AM
antipovertycentre.org
A "serious power" is not an acceptable euphemism for breaching the right to due process.

The list of groups opposing this move is growing, with NATSILS, the Australian Council of Social Services and Economic Justice Australia speaking out today.

Thank you @joshbutler.bsky.social for reporting.
Plibersek defends move to strip welfare payments from serious crime suspects. Lidia Thorpe will push to amend the bill to remove the payment cancellation clause. She claimed it was “a clear breach of the presumption of innocence and the separation of powers”: No Minister should have power to punish someone just suspected of an offence without due process. A spokesperson for the social services minister, Tanya Plibersek, said: “If someone is charged with a serious offence like murder, terrorism or child sexual abuse and is on the run, they should not continue receiving a payment from the government.” Continuing to provide support in these circumstances is not appropriate, but there is currently no legal authority to cancel a payment. These powers will only be used based on expert advice from law enforcement agencies and the advice to the Minister for Home Affairs. Advice from Services Australia about any impact on dependents must also be considered. It is a serious power, for the most serious of circumstances.
November 3, 2025 at 7:29 AM
antipovertycentre.org
Anglicare Australia says @tanyaplibersekmp.bsky.social's plan to give police powers to have Centrelink payments stopped for people accused of a serious crime is “completely at odds with the principles of fairness and justice”.

Thank you @caitkelly.bsky.social for reporting.
Potential law allowing Centrelink payments to be stripped criticised as ‘shocking overreach’ Proposed laws allowing Centrelink payments to be stripped from those evading arrest while accused of serious crimes would be a “shocking overreach of police powers into the social security system”, welfare advocates warn. The amendment to the income apportionment bill, added by Labor this week during parliamentary debate, would mean police officers would have the power to request the cancellation of Centrelink payments to those accused of a “serious violent or sexual offence” when an arrest warrant had been issued. Some advocates and social security legal experts, including the Antipoverty Centre, the Council of Single Mothers and their Children, the Anti-Poverty Network South Australia, the Australian Unemployed Workers Union and Everybody’s Home have said the amendment represents punishment without conviction and blurs the separation of powers. The Anglicare Australia executive director, Kasy Chambers, said the proposal was “completely at odds with the principles of fairness and justice” and called on the government to scrap the amendment. Chambers said: This is a shocking overreach of police powers into the social security system. We’ve seen too many times what happens when governments rush through changes without thinking through the consequences. Robodebt should have been warning enough.
October 31, 2025 at 4:37 AM
antipovertycentre.org
The bottom line is this:

You do not try to sneak through an amendment in this way with no announcement and when all opportunities for parliamentary scrutiny have passed if you believe what you're doing is good @tanyaplibersekmp.bsky.social
Block new powers to stop welfare payments.
October 30, 2025 at 6:23 AM
antipovertycentre.org
"Using the threat of homelessness as a form of punishment is unconscionable. The government should withdraw this amendment immediately.” – @maiyazize.bsky.social from Everybody's Home
Everybody’s Home National Spokesperson Maiy Azize said: “This is a shocking and dangerous proposal. Cutting off someone’s Centrelink payment means cutting off their rent, their groceries, and their lifeline. It will push people into homelessness before they’ve even had a chance to defend themselves in court. These changes mean that someone could lose their home because of an accusation that later turns out to be wrong. Once you’ve lost your home, there’s no easy way back. No one should be made destitute or homeless before they’ve been found guilty of anything. Using the threat of homelessness as a form of punishment is unconscionable. The government should withdraw this amendment immediately.”
October 30, 2025 at 6:23 AM
antipovertycentre.org
"We should not have to explain why this has no place in a fair society. This is a shocking overreach of police powers into the social security system." – Kasy Chambers from Anglicare Australia
Anglicare Australia Executive Director Kasy Chambers said: “This proposal is completely at odds with the principles of fairness and justice. Cutting off someone’s income before they have been found guilty of any crime is punishment without conviction. We should not have to explain why this has no place in a fair society. This is a shocking overreach of police powers into the social security system. We’ve seen too many times what happens when governments rush through changes without thinking through the consequences. Robodebt should have been warning enough. We’re calling on the government to withdraw these amendments and commit to a system that upholds people’s rights and dignity, not one that tears them away.”
October 30, 2025 at 6:23 AM
antipovertycentre.org
"We need to do more to protect people who are victims of serious violent and sexual offences, but further demonising welfare recipients and using the social security system as a form of punishment is not the way." – @averyhoward.bsky.social
Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union President and JobSeeker recipient Avery Howard said: “Labor will continue to punish people on payments in any way possible. We need to do more to protect people who are victims of serious violent and sexual offences, but further demonising welfare recipients and using the social security system as a form of punishment is not the way. If Labor wants to tinker with the social security system, they should increase payments above the poverty line, which will serve to help victims of these crimes a whole lot more than convoluted and potentially unlawful ways to cancel people’s payments.”
October 30, 2025 at 6:23 AM
antipovertycentre.org
"Once again, people on low incomes are being treated as second-class citizens whose rights can be ignored for political convenience." – Sam Skinner from Anti-Poverty Network South Australia
Anti-Poverty Network South Australia Campaign Co-coordinator and Carers payment recipient Samantha Skinner said: “This amendment is another shocking example of the government weaponising the welfare system against the very people it is meant to support. Giving police the power to cut off someone’s Centrelink payment without due process is not only cruel, it’s unlawful and undemocratic. Once again, people on low incomes are being treated as second-class citizens whose rights can be ignored for political convenience. Instead of expanding punitive powers, the government should be focused on repairing the enormous harm already done to people through years of unlawful debt recovery and inadequate payments. We need a welfare system built on care and justice, not control and punishment.”
October 30, 2025 at 6:23 AM
antipovertycentre.org
"Perpetrators of violence are skilled at using government systems to weaponise violence... False reports of child abuse & of violence already see too many single mothers & their children, many of them Aboriginal, misrepresented as perpetrators" – Council of Single Mothers and their Children
“Council of Single Mothers and their Children are perturbed by this proposed amendment which has the potential to cause further harm to women and children who have already been subject to family violence. We have plenty of evidence that perpetrators of such violence are often skilled at using government systems to weaponise their violence. We see this in relation to taxation, child support, and family payments where recalcitrance in not meeting their obligations can impose debt burdens on their victim. Indeed, these issues are before the Ombudsman now. Why therefore, would we risk providing additional ways for them to cause harm? False reports of child abuse and of violence already see too many single mothers and their children, many of them Aboriginal, misrepresented as perpetrators of violence or taken into child protection. We call on the government to withdraw the proposed amendments withholding social security payments or concession cards, family assistance payments, or paid parental leave payments on the grounds of an arrest for any reason, until any unintended consequences for children and their primary carers can be fully and openly assessed.”
October 30, 2025 at 6:23 AM
antipovertycentre.org
"Labor can only get away with creating this terrifying expansion of powers because it’s easy to punch down on welfare recipients" – Jay Coonan from the Antipoverty Centre
Antipoverty Centre spokesperson and JobSeeker recipient Jay Coonan said: “Labor can only get away with creating this terrifying expansion of powers because it’s easy to punch down on welfare recipients and use us as a political football. It is purely performative, and will only open the door to further demonise welfare recipients and justify more punishment outside the judicial system. When a warrant has been issued for a serious offence, removing a person’s Centrelink payment will not undo whatever act may have occurred.”
October 30, 2025 at 6:23 AM
antipovertycentre.org
"The welfare system is often used as a powerful surveillance tool" – @maximumwelfare.bsky.social
Welfare rights advocate Tom Studans said: "Serious violent crimes require a serious response. Convictions must be sound. Using the welfare system this way will not prove lawful, just, or otherwise effective. The welfare system is often used as a powerful surveillance tool for the police and security agencies that comprise Home Affairs. In Australia, punishing criminal offenders is the job of the courts.Social security law already provides for those in prison to lose their benefits—no argument has been made for broad discretionary powers to pre-empt the judicial process, as this cannot be done lawfully in Australia. Government efforts to improve women’s safety in the welfare system must focus on improving their financial position and agency in the system, and eliminating the ways offenders can use it to perpetrate their abuses—but it’s clear safety has nothing to do with these amendments.”
October 30, 2025 at 6:23 AM
antipovertycentre.org
Our questions for ABC 730 following the airing of this
shoddy story:
1) Who told you this report was commissioned in response to robodebt? 2) Are you aware that DEWR was forced to respond to revelations of unlawful decisions discovered by a welfare rights activist through FOI? 3) What gave you the impression this report about "policy", when it is explicitly a review into whether or not DEWR has operated the welfare punishment system unlawfully, and how doing so led them to unlawfully cut people off Centrelink payments, which the report confirms? 4) Did you actually even read the report you just covered on the public broadcaster’s flagship news program?
October 9, 2025 at 9:43 AM
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.
October 9, 2025 at 5:34 AM
antipovertycentre.org
When asked how long they knew about ~310k people potentially affected by unlawful Centrelink payment cancellations, Amanda Rishworth and DEWR refused to answer.

ALL penalties must be stopped. These decisions cost lives – lawful or not.

Thanks @caitkelly.bsky.social for reporting.
“I started receiving random calls, text messages from Wise employment,” she said. “They just started harassing me throughout the year while I was in this small business program, and I complained to Centrelink over and over and over again.” Jane, who is now 45 and lives in public housing in Melbourne, had been told in writing that because she was doing the NEIS she did not have to engage. She repeatedly contacted Centrelink about it but Wise continued to contact her. Then, in late 2020, her payment was suspended and was cancelled before 28 days had elapsed. She had about $800 in the bank, which she lived off for several months. “I didn’t pay my power bills, I didn’t pay my rent, I just couldn’t afford to pay it,” she said. “I would survive on just very simple food, like bread and cereal, and I would have flour, so I would make muffins.” After she ran out of money, Sarah applied for jobseeker and tried to take her case to the tribunal but gave up because it was too much. “I was actively trying to fight what had happened. I was trying to seek advice,” she said. A spokesperson for the Antipoverty Centre, Kristin O'Connell, said the problem extends beyond cancellations to payment suspensions, which are triggered by a provider.
September 26, 2025 at 3:08 AM
antipovertycentre.org
Our first thought on reading the Deloitte report was that it contradicted itself in nonsensical ways. We have a feeling this might be related.
Despite containing shocking information about the employment department’s lack of care for welfare recipients or interest in upholding its legal responsibilities, and unequivocal confirmation that the system is not designed to operate in line with the law, the Deloitte report incoherently claims there are not grounds to stop the use of penalties. The report seeks to downplay the scale of harm caused through unlawful, unfair and unreasonable decisions by presenting a misleading detected error rate figure of 0.01%
August 27, 2025 at 9:11 AM
antipovertycentre.org
Nothing the government has announced can adequately compensate for the distress, wasted time, financial strain & other impacts of being pursued for unfair debts over such a long period.

Thanks @amyremeikis.bsky.social for reporting. More coverage here: live.australiainstitute.org.au/category/aus...
Antipoverty Centre: stop the harm and suspend Centrelink debt activity. The Antipoverty Centre has also responded to the the government announcement it will waive some of the unlawful income apportionment debt, but says that doesn't deliver in the promise to implement the Robodebt Royal Commission recommendations. It wants the government to work with it for more meaningful reforms to ensure no one else is harmed. Antipoverty Centre spokesperson and JobSeeker recipient Jay Coonan said: It is a relief to see the government beginning to take some action in response to its unlawful debt recovery, but we know these changes will not protect poor people from the harm done by debt raising and collection practices. They do not go anywhere near implementing the Robodebt Royal Commission recommendations that the government committed to two years ago. It should not have taken so long and it should not have taken so much work by welfare recipients and advocates for this progress to be made. The government must work with welfare recipients to make bigger changes that will ensure we are safe, and have stability and control over our lives. This must include the reintroduction of the 6 year time limit on debt recovery, which is glaringly absent from this announcement.
August 27, 2025 at 5:38 AM
antipovertycentre.org
expropriate the airbnbs
News headline: Airbnb hosts say caps won't shift them to rental market. Short-term rental hosts would be more likely to leave their properties empty than list them on the long-term rental market to aid supply, a survey shows.
August 4, 2025 at 10:06 PM
antipovertycentre.org
The list of providers in the new disability employment service that starts on 1 November is now public. Our old fave APM scored contracts in every state & territory despite their notorious reputation!

Who needs a good reputation with a former ALP Premier on your board and... (thx @donation.watch)
Screencap of APM page on the DonationWatch website. APM has made $822,000 in political donations since 2104. $456,000 was donated to Labor and $365,000 was donated to the Coalition parties.
August 4, 2025 at 8:32 AM