Services Australia tests found about 64% of employment income-related debts may be affected by the unlawful calculation practice

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

About 3 million Australians charged debts totalling $4.3bn by the Australian government may have been affected by an unlawful debt calculation practice.

The commonwealth ombudsman has said an “extremely large number of Australians [are] potentially significantly impacted” in response to the latest estimate released by the Department of Social Services.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email