Miles Browne is the Victoria Legal Aid deputy managing lawyer for the economic and social rights program and in Warrnambool on Friday he urged residents to be aware of their rights.

He was due in Federal court at the start of this month fighting against Centrelink's wages averaging-based robodebt system, but the government agency admitted its actions had not been fair and agreed to halt the program.

But Mr Browne said many people might still have unfair debts or have paid debts they didn't actually owe.

He said prior to robodebt Centrelink was raising 20,000 debts a year, and during it, the system was up to 20,000 debts a week.

The lawyer said the raising of the debts through averaging Australia Tax Office data was thought to be unlawful.

It led to hundreds of thousands of Centrelink clients being issued with debts.

The test case of Deanna Amato was settled on the door steps of the Federal Court in a trial that was scheduled to start on December 2.

Centrelink has now agreed to no longer the use the system but the argument rages about whether past debts should be scrapped and money previously paid be paid back.

"We say a lot of people have paid debts we say were unlawful," he said in reference to what he described as a "very blunt" robodebt calculating tool.

Mr Browne said the Victoria Legal Aid website provided a range of advice and options for people who are unsure of their position.

He said a test case had been difficult to launch but Ms Amato's social conscious prompted her to get involved.

She lost $1700 of her tax return after it was calculated she had a $2700 debt.

A review of the data determined she had been overpaid $1.48 and further investigations revealed she had been underpaid $400.

Mr Browne said appeals against other government agency decisions were often successful, such as knock backs for disability support pension assessments, the criteria of which had been tightened in 2011.

He said victims of accidents or illness in middle age, who had worked all their lives, often found they could no longer support their families because of their individual circumstances.

The difference between a support pension and Newstart is about $10,000 a year.

Warrnambool legal aid office senior civil justice lawyer Sarah Westwood said there was a lot of unmet demand for services in the south-west.

She said a fundamental issue was the right to appeal the decisions of government agencies.

"We need to get that message across, initially through a review by a senior officer and then an independent body such as the Administrative Appeal Tribunal," she said.

Ms Westwood said part of legal aid's aim was to develop civil justice outreach services for the south-west at Warrnambool, Portland and Hamilton.

She said fines and infringements could also be reviewed through special circumstances such as homelessness, substance abuse, mental illness, domestic violence and cognitive impairment.

Ms Westwood she debts could also be worked off through participation in programs at the Western Region Alcohol and Drug Centre and it was hoped that system could be expanded to include education courses, similar to the New South Wales system.

"That program incentive is engagement and rehabilitation," she said.

Mr Browne said another appeal avenue which often had positive results was in relation to the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

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