Services Australia made $5 billion in incorrect age pension payments over 3 years to June 2024 — $3.67B overpaid, $1.33B underpaid. The agency missed its own 80% timeliness target in all 12 quarters audited. Its worst quarter: 38.6%. ANAO called it "poor stewardship of public resources."
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$5.0B of Australian taxpayer money was wasted at Services Australia. Services Australia made $5 billion in incorrect age pension payments over 3 years to June 2024 — $3.67B overpaid, $1.33B underpaid. The agency missed its own 80% timeliness target in all 12 quarters audited. Its worst quarter: 38.6%. ANAO called it "poor stewardship of public resources."
Spread across Australia's 10.8 million households, that's roughly $463 per family — enough in total for funding roughly 42 public hospitals for a full year.
Services Australia made $5 billion in incorrect age pension payments over 3 years to June 2024:
- $3.67 billion overpaid (sent to people who shouldn't have received it at the amount paid)
- $1.33 billion underpaid (withheld from retirees who were entitled to it)
The age pension costs $62.2 billion per year — 8.4% of the entire federal budget. It is Australia's largest social support program.
Performance failures:
- Services Australia missed its own 80% timeliness target in every single quarter of the 3-year audit period (12/12 quarters)
- Worst quarter performance: 38.6% of claims completed on time
- A 2019 IT error resulted in $37 million in overpayments across 175,032 recipients — undetected for 5 years
- Complaint volumes surged 80% during the period while the recipient base grew only 2%
ANAO assessment: "Poor stewardship of public resources."
Per household: $5B in errors across 10.8M households = $463 per household in payment errors in a single 3-year period.
Sources:
- Accounting Times: https://www.accountingtimes.com.au/profession/services-australia-blundered-5-billion-in-pension-payments-in-3-years-audit-finds
- ANAO audit (January 2025)
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