The Australian Government is Banning Holidays

If you have been avoiding Centrelink’s emails and are planning a quick getaway to Hawaii while flights are cheap, your trip to the airport could potentially be a pointless one. It seems the government has just checked their bank account and realised it’s time to start tightening the belt. Along with restocking Parliament’s supply of Mi Goreng, Human Services have begun chasing up $800 million in debts.

“If you received a payment you were not entitled to, you have an obligation to repay the money you owe and we will use every tool at our disposal to ensure it is recovered,” said Human Services Minister Michael Keenan. Those currently receiving welfare will avoid the debt collectors but that still leaves a head count out for 15,000 people who are no longer receiving welfare.

In Mr Keenan’s threatening statement he broke down the reasoning for the ban, “So if you go to the airport, and you owe us, say, a couple of thousand dollars, or tens of thousands of dollars, then we don’t believe that you should be able to go on an overseas holiday, for example, if you owe us money because you’ve got overpayments from the welfare system.”

20 orders have already been issued so I suggest setting up those bank transfers before booking in that dream of a white Christmas in New York.