Australia’s veterans department ‘apologises for any distress’ in chasing alleged pension overpayments

Exclusive: The apparent error has been occurring for at least three years and has been blamed on a transition to new computer systems

The Department of Veterans’ Affairs has apologised for chasing elderly Australians for alleged pension overpayments and has blamed a systems error for wrongly targeting those aged over 90.

After a Guardian Australia report on the issue, a departmental spokesperson said a number of veterans were incorrectly subjected to compliance reviews, resulting in debt notices.