“We know that almost 400,000 Australians fell victim to this cruel system. A human tragedy with very real consequences for its victims,” said the prime minister. Source; Shutterstock.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a royal commission will investigate the former government’s robodebt scheme.
The automated Centrelink debt recovery program from the former Coalition government ran from July 2015 to November 2019 and wrongly accused many people of owing money to the government.
The prime minister has labelled the scheme a “human tragedy” and said the royal commission will be led by former Queensland Supreme Court Justice Catherine Holmes.
Holmes led the Queensland floods commission of inquiry after the 2010-11 floods.
“It is vital so that we get to the bottom of how robodebt came about so that we can ensure that it can never ever happen again,” he said.
“We know that almost 400,000 Australians fell victim to this cruel system. A human tragedy with very real consequences for its victims.”
Albanese said the commission will deliver its final report to the Governor-General in April next year.
“The royal commission will examine the establishment of the scheme, who was responsible for it and why it was necessary, how concerns were handled, how the scheme affected individuals and the financial costs to government, and measures to prevent this ever happening again,” he said.
Robodebt used an algorithm to determine whether people receiving Centrelink had been overpaid.
The former government unlawfully accused 443,000 people of underreporting their income and being overpaid benefits between 2015 and 2019.
A total of almost $2 billion in payments was unlawfully claimed from 443,000 people.
A court found $751 million was wrongly taken from some 381,000 people.
The former government agreed to a $1.8 billion settlement last year for people who were wronged and wiped any outstanding unlawful debts.
Former prime minister Scott Morrison, who was social services minister at the time of the scheme being established, apologised for the scheme but dismissed the idea for a royal commission.
However, Labor said the full scope of damage caused by the scheme has not been accounted for, including claims of suicide caused by the program.
There have been at least three suicides that have been linked by loved ones to Centrelink debt during the period of the robodebt scheme.
