Centrelink has issued debt notices to JobJeeper recipients, but not the profitable businesses that enjoyed the subsidy. 

The Federal Government has been accused of double standards after issuing 11,771 welfare recipients with debt notices, claiming they were overpaid a total of $32 million due to JobKeeper.

Meanwhile it has strongly resisted calls to retrieve money from businesses who got the JobKeeper wage subsidy and then made a profit.

Services Australia officials revealed the figures at a Senate estimates session, after having previously told Senators that it was up to welfare recipients to report jobkeeper as “ordinary income”.

“It could impact whether or not they were eligible for a rate of jobseeker or other income support payment or what the correct rate would be,” said compliance general manager Chris Birrer.

However, Jeremy Poxon, a spokesperson for the Australian Unemployed Workers Union, said it is a confusing system.

“Judging by the amount of panicked calls we got about it, we – and the department – know JobKeeper was a confusing mess of a system to access,” he said.

Mr Poxon said it was “disgusting, yet sadly unsurprising” that “billionaires like Gerry Harvey have been let completely off the hook” while welfare recipients, who “engaged with this program in good faith” are being hounded by the government.

A spokesperson for the Federal Government has told reporters there is “no double standard” because “both programs have strong compliance frameworks”.

“Services Australia takes every step to remind people of their reporting obligations,” the spokesperson said.

“Under JobKeeper, where businesses misreported against the eligibility criteria, the ATO has the power to recover overpayments. As at July, $284 million in overpayments has been identified and approximately $138 million recovered.”

Also this week, the Morrison Government rejected a bid from independent senator Rex Patrick for the tax commissioner to disclose which major companies received JobKeeper and how much they got, similar to a database set up in New Zealand. 

Labor had backed the move but pulled its support, saying it may have delayed COVID-19 disaster payments being paid to recipients.