Big changes to Centrepay start on Monday the 3rd of November, but many local uses and community organisations in the East Kimberley say they haven’t been consulted.

Waringarri Media has found a lot of confusion about what’s changing, including whether food and groceries are in or out. Hopefully our story helps lift the fog of confusion.

Background:

Centrepay is a system used by more than half-a-million Australians, including thousands across the Kimberley. It allows people to pay for goods and services through deductions from their Centrelink payments.

Initially, it was introduced as a way of paying essential bills like rent and power, but has expanded over time to be used in shops selling clothes, whitegoods, phones and speakers.

There’s been a series of controversies with some businesses found to be taking advantage of mostly Aboriginal customers by signing them up to debts they did not fully understand and couldn’t afford.

So the Federal Government has announced a tightening of the scheme – See what’s changing and staying below.

Justin Bott from Services Australia explains:

LIST of Kimberley Businesses approved for Centrepay:

Approved Organisations in Kununurra:

• Kimberley First National Real Estate. – Rent and property payments
• North Australia Health Pty Ltd.  Medical and health services
• Wings of Support Services Pty Ltd. – Disability and community care
• Springs of Hope. – Community or financial support
• St Joseph’s School Kununurra. – School fees and programs
• East Kimberley College P&C. – School-related costs
• Kimberley Vet Centre. – Vet services (up to $50/fortnight)

Approved in Wyndham

• Wyndham Youth Aboriginal Corporation. Community and supported accommodation

Approved in Fitzroy crossing

• Bayulu Supermarket. Remote community store  – food and essentials

Approved in Derby

• Derby District High School.  Education services (school fees and programs.

But 6 Kununurra businesses will no longer be able to operate in the Centrepay scheme from November 3^rd. Though they’ll keep taking people’s deductions from purchases made before November 3^rd for another 12 months.

Not approved in Kununurra

• Kununurra Betta Home Living. Furniture, whitegoods, appliances
• Kimberley Bulk Warehouse. Household goods and furniture
• Bushcamp Surplus Store. Home and camping goods
• V A Fashions.  Clothing and footwear
• Tuckerbox Kununurra. Food store (food & groceries ONLY))
• Tenderspot Butchers, Kununurra

Not Approved in Fitzroy crossing

• Central Kimberley Football League Inc. Sports and recreation expenses

Centrepay is changing

We’re updating Centrepay so it works better for you. You can use Centrepay to pay for goods and services from approved businesses.

We’ve been working to:

• increase customer protections when using Centrepay
• remove high-risk products or services
• have the right products and services available
• help customers and business manage complaints
• add extra conditions to some businesses so deductions don’t continue for too long without review.

In addition, we’ve also been working to make sure businesses:

• comply with the rules and obligations when using Centrepay
• don’t pass on Centrepay transaction fees to customers
• have your consent when they start, restart or increase your Centrepay deduction.

You can read about and watch our video about Centrepay reform.

What’s staying

You can continue to use Centrepay to pay for goods and services from approved businesses. These may include:

• accommodation including rent, bond and arrears
• utilities including electricity, gas and water
• education and employment including school fees, child-care fees and school nutrition fees
• health including medical expenses or payments to a pharmacy, to pay for ambulance travel or a veterinary bill
• finance and insurance services including no or low interest or community loans, infringement notices or court fines and home, content or car insurance.

You can still set up Centrepay deductions from most Centrelink payments. There are some of our payments you can’t use Centrepay for.

What’s going

From 3 November 2025 certain service reasons will begin to be phased off Centrepay.

We’re removing the following service reasons, including:

• basic household items, such as the purchase of clothing, footwear, furniture and appliances
• household goods lease and rental, these are payments towards a regulated lease for whitegoods, electrical or furniture under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009
• funeral expenses, such as payments towards funeral plans, funeral bonds, prepaid funerals or actual funeral costs
• employment expenses such as tools of trade, work uniforms, training, protective clothing and footwear
• social and recreational commitments including expenses for sporting activities and equipment, church donations, sponsorships, musical activities and equipment
• savings for deposits made to microfinance savings plans
• motor vehicle registration.

To help you adjust to the changes:

• if you currently have a deduction set up for one of these service reasons it will continue for up to 12 months. You’ll need to choose a different payment method by 1 November 2026
• if you cancel a deduction for one of these service reasons after 3 November 2025, you won’t be able to re-start it
• if you don’t already have a deduction in place, from 3 November 2025 you won’t be able to start any new deductions.

Alternative payment methods

It’s important to know that while you’ll no longer be able to use Centrepay to pay these businesses in the future you can:

• still purchase items and just pay for them using alternative payment methods
• speak directly with the business to arrange an alternate payment method.

You can also talk to someone to discuss what these alternatives might be. Talk to a financial counsellor, or contact us to talk about other support services.

What’s changing

We’ve changed the criteria for some categories. Please check with the business you are making a Centrepay deduction to, to see if you can continue using Centrepay for the following service reasons:

• legal and professional services
• travel and transport
• food provision.

Look at our Goods and services page to see what these changes mean for you.

End dates for service reasons

We have added some mandatory conditions for certain deductions to include an end date for the following service reasons:

• home-care and trade services
• school meals program
• child care services
• education expenses
• disability and community services.

Deductions set up before 3 November 2025 will need to have an end date added by 4 May 2026.

If you start a deduction after 3 November 2025, the deduction must include an end-date.

Look at our Goods and services page to see how these changes may affect your deductions.

Target amounts for service reasons

We have added some mandatory conditions for certain deductions to include a target amount for the following service reasons:

• ambulance services
• medical services and equipment
• community group loans
• no interest loans
• general community housing loans
• special interest loans
• court fines
• court infringements
• legal services
• travel and transport services
• food provisions for remote areas
• veterinary services.

Deductions set up before 3 November 2025 will need to have a target amount added by 4 May 2026.

If you start a deduction after 3 November 2025, the deduction must include a target amount.

Look at our Goods and services page to see how these changes may affect your deductions.

Help from us You can learn more about how you can get financial help and information.If you’re going through a hard time financially, you may want to get counselling, help and emotional support.

Find out about our social worker services. You can talk to one of our Financial Information Service (FIS) Officers for free. Our FIS Officers can share tools, resources and information that can help you make more informed financial decisions.

You can also find out more about how to manage your money. Centrepay complaints and feedback Centrepay complaints and feedback.