Welfare groups have been calling for the process of"income averaging"to be abolished,arguing it is unfair and inaccurate.
With the government facing apotential class action challenging the legality of its income compliance program,Mr Robert said Centrelink would also"reach out"to the"small cohort"of Australians who had received debt notices based solely on income averaging to"seek further points of proof".
During a Sydney press conference,Mr Robert did not elaborate on how many people were in the"small cohort"or the potential budget impact.
Loading
But a Services Australia (which includes Centrelink) submission to a recent Senate inquiry suggests it could conservatively involve more than 220,000 cases.
According to the government,it has identified 734,000 cases of overpayment since July 2015. The submission notes that during income-compliance decisions,about 30 per cent of people do not engage with Centrelink's requests for further information and another 30 per cent start the process but do not finish it. Services Australia said in the absence of any further information provided by a customer,"we have used income averaging to determine the overpayment".
A departmental statement on Tuesday said income averaging"only applies to a very limited proportion of debts".