Yesterday the secretary of the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations has announced that powers to cancel social security payments related to compulsory activities will return next Monday 26 October. These penalties were paused because the department failed to administer the law correctly. Prior to the pause, more than 80,000 payments were cancelled under these rules in just one year.

As members of DEWR’s Targeted Compliance Framework Reference Group, we are deeply concerned that the Secretary intends to push ahead with bringing back these powers despite questions that remain unanswered, and without ensuring basic human rights will be protected. We are also concerned about a lack of capacity in DEWR and Services Australia to handle any increase in call volumes as wait times remain unacceptably long, particularly on the National Customer Service Line where people routinely wait more than 3 hours to get help with unfair penalties.

The department has not adequately demonstrated how its processes will address unfair and unlawful decision-making investigated by the Commonwealth Ombudsman. Our concerns remain largely unanswered and we are yet to receive a satisfactory response to issues raised by members of the reference group about the lawfulness of the TCF, including the use of payment suspension penalties. Despite payment cancellations being paused, automated systems and outsourced employment services have retained the ability to apply payment suspensions for the entire period that the TCF has been under scrutiny.

We strongly oppose all compulsory activities for people on Centrelink payments, and the Government’s plans to restart some payment cancellations and suspensions under the problematic framework.

The Antipoverty Centre, ACOSS, Economic Justice Australia, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service (NATSILS) and Inclusion Australia call on the Government to:

• Remove the Targeted Compliance Framework immediately, including payment suspensions and financial penalties.

• Provide full back-pay and compensation to every person affected by unlawful decisions.

Losing income support has catastrophic consequences for people in poverty, causing significant distress, putting strain on relationships and derailing people as they try to manage complex challenges or make progress towards their goals. It means going without food, missing rent and potential homelessness. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are disproportionately affected by the welfare penalties framework. The framework also applies to people with disability compelled to take part in Workforce Australia and Inclusive Employment Australia, including thousands of people with an intellectual disability. Putting these penalties back in place means there will be more harm to people affected by racial and disability discrimination. Penalties like these have no place in a system that is supposed to help people into paid work.

The lessons of the Targeted Compliance Framework are clear: punitive financial penalties cause harm, deepen poverty and undermine trust. Building a better employment services system requires leaving behind failed and coercive policies such as compulsory activities and investing instead in proper support and genuine pathways to employment.

Signatories

• Members of the Targeted Compliance Framework Reference Group:

  • National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (NATSILS)

  • Antipoverty Centre

  • Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS)

  • Economic Justice Australia

  • Inclusion Australia

Antipoverty Centre co-coordinator Jay Coonan said:

“We are extremely alarmed by this announcement that will see the screws turned even tighter on welfare recipients who are already under so much strain. Compulsory activities and payment suspension penalties cost money that people can’t afford, create unnecessary stress and waste time.

“We are concerned by the lack of transparency surrounding this process. There are serious questions Minister Rishworth is refusing to answer about what evidence the government has that the TCF is operating lawfully. The government has the power to stop the harm these penalties cause and it should do so immediately. The bottom line is, it will never be possible to fully protect the safety and wellbeing of people in poverty while compulsory activities remain.”

ACOSS CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie AO said:

“Payment cancellations are completely disproportionate and leave people unable to pay rent or buy food, with no benefit to their search for paid work.

“The Government has said it wants to reform employment services so people are genuinely helped into paid work. Restarting harsh, unreasonable penalties sends the opposite message to the people whom these services are meant to support.

“ACOSS is deeply concerned that the digital protections framework isn’t in place. Strong digital safeguards are essential given how heavily the system relies on automation and the catastrophic administrative failures of recent years, including Robodebt. We strongly opposed the Targeted Compliance Framework when it was first introduced by Minister Cash under the Coalition Government. It should be abolished once and for all.”

Economic Justice Australia CEO Kate Allingham said:
“Last year, our own analysis revealed that roughly 310,000 people had had their payments cancelled illegally. Time and time again, our member centres heard from people who were not able to pay rent, or who could not afford to eat, when their payments were suspended without notice.

“The Government committed to a suite of reform measures to employment services, and as they undertake this reform process, we urge them to keep firmly in mind that the systems they are tinkering with have the very real capacity to put human lives at risk. Reform has to be thoughtful and thorough, and any decisions related to payments that allow people to survive need to have discretion applied by human beings who take adequate time to understand the person’s circumstances. As far as we’re concerned, there are still legal issues that have not been addressed, and yet the government has decided – for no reason that we can understand – to resume the functioning of this flawed and dangerous system.”

National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (NATSILS) Executive Director Nick Espie said:

“Two Ombudsman Reports have found welfare cancellations under the Targeted Compliance Framework were unlawful, and the efforts to remediate the debts unfair. NATSILS notes that of all people who had their welfare payments unlawfully cancelled between April 2022 and July 2024, a staggering 46% were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

This is systemic and structural racism at play. Governments have committed to improve the economic prosperity and social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. These kinds of measures, and inaction on righting the wrongs, demonstrate how Governments are failing on those commitments.

Inclusion Australia CEO Maeve Kennedy said:
“There are over 3,200 people with an intellectual disability who are subject to compulsory activities under the Targeted Compliance Framework. These figures are likely to underestimate the true number, as they reflect primary diagnosis only and do not account for people who have not disclosed their disability or do not have a formal diagnosis.

“People with an intellectual disability face significant barriers to navigating requirements, communicating with providers, using digital systems and completing administrative processes. The introduction of an insufficient Digital Protections Framework is not an adequate safeguard. In addition, if the support people rely on to manage compulsory activities is no longer available because of recent NDIS reforms leading to plan cuts, these requirements become significantly harder to meet.

“Financially penalising people for barriers created by an inaccessible system is fundamentally unfair, and our position continues to be that no one should be subject to compulsory employment activities as a condition of receiving income support.”