A trusted voice and advocate for First Nations peoples on financial matters, Wangkumara-Barkinji woman Lynda Edwards, has spoken out to raises concerns for Indigenous Communities over the Robo-debt catastrophe.
Speaking to the National Indigenous Times, Ms Edwards urged community members to speak with a Financial Counsellor, stressing "I know at least three people here in my community that may have been impacted by robo-debt and just don't know it".
Ms Edwards grew up in Tibburra, Wilcania, Bourke and Newcastle, and is a passionate advocate for financial inclusion, fairness and financial resilience for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
She has devoted her life to assisting First Nations communities with Financial Services and Support, and was recently presented with an award for the 2023 NSW Aboriginal Woman of the Year, acknowledging her contributions to the field.
As the Coordinator of Financial Capability at Financial Counselling Australia (FCA), the peak body for Financial Counselling and Capability, Ms Edwards is heavily involved with advocating for fairer processes and issues that impact First Nations communities,
"We ensure that hardship processes are appropriate for people in financial difficulty," Ms Edwards said.
Ms Edwards said that robo-debt has been very harmful and has had a huge impact on people.
Whilst she has not seen many case studies relating specifically to Indigenous community members yet, she is gravely concerned that there are more people out there that don't know that they have been impacted.
She suggests that for many people "Centrelink has said you owe a debt and people automatically go into a payment arrangement without asking why."
"My own brother got a letter saying he owed a lot of money, but he went in and said 'How do I owe this money!?' and they looked back at it and said 'Oh, you don't owe anything.'," she said.
Financial Counselling Australia (FCA) is the national voice of the financial counselling profession in Australia, with up to 800 financial counsellors within their fold, 200 of those are First Nations and the deadly team have one single goal of helping Australians overcome financial hardship.
Ms Edwards believes that in the next month or so there will be an influx of persons seeking their services.
She said people speak to their counsellors, the first thing they will get asked is 'Do you have a Centrelink debt?'.
They will then work out for them if their debt it is connected to robo-debt.
Ms Edwards stressed that there has been a lack of information coming from Centrelink that addresses or informs individuals, suggesting there should be individual letters that say.
"You have a debt with Centrelink, it may be connected to robo-debt, come in to speak with us. There's been nothing that's gone out to people," she said.
"We have seen there has been a lot of issues around it, it's been really bad for people. Its impacted people's mental health."
"I reckon in terms of my own community I know at least three people here that may have been impacted by robo-debt and just don't know it. Because they are still paying thousands and thousands of dollars."
Ms Edwards continued to urge others to go and speak to a financial counsellor.
"Financial Counselling is a free service and for mob there are First Nations Financial Counsellors and Capability Workers who are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait islanders who can help them you can call 1800 007 007 and they just need to ask for a First Nations counsellor," she said.
Ms Edwards encouraged those that have received a letter, have paid a Centrelink debt or are still paying a debt from the years 2015-2019 to see a Financial advisor or expert and find out what that debt is.
"There's so many of our mob that are going to be impacted by this," Ms Edwards added.
Ms Edwards said there are people that are really scared and worried and it is likely there are many people out there that have paid thousands of dollars that they didn't need to pay.
