Centrelink pursuing debts that are more than 40 years old despite agreeing to waive old arrears

Advocates and legal bodies want the debt to be made ‘out of bounds’ given how hard it is to determine its accuracy Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Centrelink is pursuing $4.93bn in unpaid debts, with the oldest dating back more than 40 years, despite the government agreeing to implement a six-year statute of limitations on debt recovery. A growing list of advocates, including peak legal body Economic Justice Australia, want the debts wiped, while Australia’s leading welfare expert has warned it is impossible to trust whether the huge amount of debt is accurate. Services Australia’s debt collection system has been in chaos, with the government announcing last year it would provide resolution payments of up to $600 for people affected by unlawful income apportionment. Around the same time, it was also revealed that about 44,000 Australians have overpaid their Centrelink debts, some by $20,000 or more. Now, data from Services Australia shows there are 1.34m outstanding Centrelink debts, amounting to $4.93bn in debt. Approximately 645,000 have a repayment arrangement in place. About 600 of the outstandin