Royal commission finds Robodebt scheme ‘cruel and crude’

The federal government’s Robodebt scheme ran for four-and-a-half years, from July 2015 to November 2019, during which time $1.73 billion in unlawful debts was raised against more than 400,000 people.

The royal commission has found that Robodebt was “neither fair nor legal and it made many people feel like criminals”.

One of the main issues highlighted in the report was the heavy reliance on “income averaging” to assess people’s income and eligibility for benefits.

"It is remarkable how little interest there seems to have been in ensuring the Scheme’s legality, how rushed
its implementation was, how little thought was given to how it would affect welfare recipients and the
lengths to which public servants were prepared to go to oblige ministers on a quest for savings," the report said.

The report warned the scheme treated many individuals as if they had received income when they hadn’t, with devastating consequences.

“In essence, people were traumatised on the off-chance they might owe money. It was a costly failure of public administration, in both human and economic terms,” the report said.

The report highlighted “disastrous effects” such as families struggling to make ends meet, young people feeling desperate due to payment demands, and even a heartbreaking account of a young man’s suicide.

To prevent such injustices from happening again, the commission made 57 recommendations, which include:

• They suggested the establishment of a monitoring body to oversee automatic decision-making processes.
• They also recommended that Services Australia, the agency responsible for administering the scheme, should create a debt recovery management policy.
• Additionally, they called for a review of the structure of the social services portfolio and the status of Services Australia.
• Changes to the Freedom of Information Act were proposed.

Welcoming the recommendations, Minister for Finance, Katy Gallagher, said this is “another step toward delivering justice for the more than 500,000 victims of the former.

“To those who shared their stories with the Royal Commission and who campaigned tirelessly to raise the alarm bells about the gross betrayal that was the Robodebt Scheme — thank you,” ” Ms Gallagher said.

“Throughout the Royal Commission process we have seen courage, leadership, and ethics on display from victims, their advocates, and whistleblowers.

“The Government will now consider the recommendations presented in the final report carefully and provide a full response in due course.”

The government has previously pledged that the scheme would be ditched, with all welfare payment debts managed in-house.