Centrelink tells receptionist she owes them $65,000 trends now
An elderly pensioner has revealed how her life was turned 'upside down' after being told she had to pay back Centrelink $65,000 as part of its bungled robodebt scheme.
Rosemary Gay, from Ballarat in Victoria, told the robodebt royal commission in Brisbane on Monday she experienced 'sheer terror' after a letter warned she had just two weeks to pay up.
The 76-year-old said the message came on September 29, 2016 and had stated that Centrelink had received information from the ATO about her employment income.
The income referred to in the letter was $17,436 Ms Gay said she made as a part-time receptionist between 1 July 2010 and 30 June 2011, while working at a transport company in Ballarat.
However, Centrelink said the amounts she declared were different from what was actually earned, something Ms Gay said left her in 'shock' and 'surprised'.
'The data that I provided to them of my earnings would be exactly the same as what would be contained in my group certificate in my tax return at the end of that financial year,' she said.
Pensioner Rosemary Gay told the robodebt royal commission on Monday that she received a bill from Centrelink demanding she pay back $65,000
After checking the paperwork was the same as what she had reported, Ms Gay thought the matter would be sorted.
'I presumed that once I'd confirmed that (amount) was in my group certificate, that would be the end,' she said.
'That they would correlate that to be the same as what I had reported to them, and expected that would be the end of it.'
Ms Gay had been
