A combined win for Services Australia, Financial Rights Legal Centre, Mob Strong Debt Help and Economic Justice Australia
Centrepay Reform, a joint initiative of Services Australia and consumer advocates including Financial Rights Legal Centre (Financial Rights), Mob Strong Debt Help (Mob Strong) and Economic Justice Australia (EJA), was last night named a winner of the CSC People’s Choice Award at the Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA) ACT 2026 Spirit of Service Awards, held at the National Arboretum Canberra. The initiative was also recognised as a finalist in the Community Engagement category, which celebrates teams that meaningfully involve communities in the design and delivery of public services, policies and programs.
The combined win recognises a genuine partnership between government and community. Importantly, it marks a 13-year journey for Financial Rights (then Consumer Credit Legal Centre) which began in 2013, when we called for stronger Centrepay oversight, warning that a government-backed scheme such as Centrepay adds legitimacy to Participant organisations and makes it too easy for Participants to access vulnerable consumers.
It also marks the successful conclusion to a decades-long collaborative effort from the consumer movement to fix CentrePay – including Financial Counselling Australia who kickstarted the decades long campaign with its Centrepay: A good idea that has lost its way report, Consumer Action Law Centre’s Stop the harms campaign, and our fellow awardees Economic Justice Australia with its ongoing focus in this area and many, many more. Centrepay payments are deducted before money goes into a consumer’s bank account. It guarantees payment to Centrepay businesses from a person’s Centrelink income before they can buy necessities. We advocated that only trustworthy and vetted businesses have access to this payment system. “For years, the people we assist have had their Centrelink income drained by multiple Centrepay deductions – leaving them without enough money for food for their families. Mob Strong brought those stories into the room, and they have shaped real protections for our communities,” said First Nations woman Bettina Cooper, Mob Strong Strategy and Operations Manager. Services Australia commenced work to reform Centrepay in 2024 in response to concerns about financial harm and the need for stronger customer protections. Importantly, they listened to frontline casework, lived experience and policy expertise shared by Mob Strong, Financial Rights Legal Centre and Economic Justice Australia along with other consumer advocates.
The reform has its roots in the collapse of the Aboriginal Community Benefit Fund, later known as Youpla, in March 2022. For years, the funeral fund used Centrepay to take payments directly from First Nations people’s Centrelink income before they could pay for rent or food. The First Nations-led Save Sorry Business campaign, with Mob Strong as a lead advocate, drew national attention to the financial harm Centrepay had made possible.
In January 2024, Services Australia hosted a full-day workshop with consumer advocates, opened by Bettina Cooper as Save Sorry Business Campaign Coordinator, who called on the agency to “turn the page on years of poor engagement” with community. Many in community had seen Centrepay approval as a government tick of approval for businesses such as ACBF/Youpla. Advocates identified priority areas for reform, including the urgent need for compliance enforcement across the roughly 15,000 businesses using the service.
Centrepay Reform has transformed a long-standing bill paying service through community engagement and customer focused co-design, strengthening safeguards and protections for customers while ensuring the program remains fit for purpose.
“This award recognises what is possible when government genuinely listens to consumers and consumer advocates with frontline knowledge and data. It means genuinely engaging with consumer and community advocates in a transparent, collaborative manner and treating them as equal partners at the table,” said Mitali Tyagi, Financial Rights CEO.
“This recognition belongs to community. It belongs to every First Nations person who shared their experience, and to the financial counsellors and advocates who refused to accept that harm was just the cost of doing business,” Ms Cooper added. “We congratulate Services Australia on this shared win, and it shows what co-design looks like when it is done properly,” said Julia Davis, Principal, External Relations and Advocacy, Financial Rights. But the work does not end with the award. Strong implementation, ongoing monitoring and compliance action against businesses that misuse Centrepay will be critical to making sure the reforms deliver lasting protection for customers, particularly First Nations people living in remote communities.
“Centrepay is meant to help people on low incomes manage essential bills. These reforms put customer protection back at the centre of the service. We look forward to continuing to work with Services Australia and our partners to make sure no one has to choose between a Centrepay deduction and essentials,” Ms Tyagi added.
Read our 2025 submission to support the Centrepay Reforms.
Free, independent advice is available from Mob Strong Debt Help on 1800 808 488, and the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007.
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