We learn a lot from our clients and from participants during community legal education events and we use social media to feed that information back out to the community, aiming to build a shared understanding and help push issues onto the law reform agenda. We also use our social media to advertise when parliamentary inquiries are coming up so anyone interested can make a submission. You can find links to our social media accounts in the banner at the bottom of this page.

Where possible, we work with mainstream media to get accurate stories about the social security system onto the public record. You can see an example from our campaign to rationalise dual reporting requirements for income support and Family Tax Benefit payments as covered by ABC News and featured on the ABC’s 7:30.

Through our work with EJA, we provide expert feedback to government on proposed changes to social security law and policy, always aiming to improve access to income support.

Recent examples include evidence we’ve provided through EJA to:

• House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs Standing Committee on Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence (Transcript of Evidence)
• Senate Community Affairs References Committee’s Inquiry into Centrelink’s compliance program (submission)
• Senate Community Affairs References Committee Inquiry into the Purpose, intent, and adequacy of the Disability Support Pension (submission)
• Inquiry into Social Security (Parenting payment participation requirements – class of persons) instrument 20201 (Parents Next) (submission)
• Pre-budget Submission for 2021-22 (submission)
  

We also made submissions to the Robodebt Inquiry. You can hear our CEO, Katherine Boyle, giving evidence with colleagues Genevieve Bolton (Chair of Economic Justice Australia) and Catherine Eagle (Welfare Rights and Advocacy Service Western Australia) here.  Our evidence begins at approximately 4:33.

We regularly participate in EJA research aiming to build understanding and improve the social security system. Recent examples include:

• Debts, Duress and Dob-Ins: Centrelink Compliance Processes and Domestic Violence
• Compensation preclusion periods and the impact of COVID-19
• Barriers to Disability Support Pension Access for People with Psychiatric Impairments and their Experiences on JobSeeker Payment
• How Well Does Australia’s Social Security Support Victims of Family and Domestic Violence?

We are currently contributing to EJA’s research into use of automation/automated decision-making (ADM) in the social security system.

We assist around 1500 people each year. A portion of those cases are test cases we take to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, aiming to improve the application of existing social security law, policy and practice. Recent cases have challenged:

• the interpretation of law and policy relating to dependent adult children of refugees
• the provision of accommodation criteria for Special Benefit.
• the application of the social security agreement with New Zealand on the issue of “date of disablement”
• incorrect application of newly arrived resident waiting periods to Childcare Subsidy

We currently have a test case before the Federal Court about how the Administrative Appeals Tribunal makes decisions in Centrelink cases.