Peter Whiteford writes in The Conversation (16.11.20) about the federal Coalition’s bungled automated welfare debt recovery system, suggesting that a combination of community activism, journalistic investigation, political scrutiny and the legal aid system has ultimately provided a remedy to the system’s victims.
‘The Robodebt class action bought by Gordon Legal has been settled at a cost to the government of around $1.2 billion. According to federal Labor frontbencher Bill Shorten, this is the biggest class action in Australian legal history.
‘This comprised refunds of $721 million to 373,000 people, $112 million in compensation and $398 million in cancelled debts.
‘As is well-known, “Robodebt” is the label commonly applied to the initiative starting in 2016 designed to increase recoveries by government of “overpayments” made to social security recipients, retrospectively dating back to 2010.
‘… Essentially, the Robodebt fiasco arises from the very formulation of the policy. From the beginning, a central feature of the program was unlawful.
‘The unlawfulness does not relate to a legal technicality or a mistake in drafting. In brief, the “overpayments” the government recovered using income averaging were not overpayments. No one who understood the social security system and its governing legislation could have realistically thought they were.’
- Robodebt was a policy fiasco with a human cost we have yet to fully appreciate »
- From robodebt to racism: what can go wrong when governments let algorithms make the decisions »
- Robodebt class action: Coalition agrees to pay $1.2bn to settle lawsuit »
- Robodebt victims welcome the Federal Government’s $1.2 billion settlement »
- ‘Fess up’: Robo-debt victims want government ministers to face grilling »
- ‘It doesn’t give me anything’: Robo-debt victims unhappy about settlement »
- The robodebt settlement leaves many victims out in the cold once again »
- Human tragedy: Albanese unveils royal commission into killer ‘Robodebt’ scheme »
- The Robodebt scheme failed tests of lawfulness, impartiality, integrity and trust »
- If legal advice isn’t what the government wants to hear, just forget the whole thing »
- Federal watchdog refuses to say if it will cooperate with robodebt royal commission »
- Alan Tudge’s adviser placed stories in ‘friendly media’ to ‘shut down’ robodebt scandal, royal commission told »
- Robodebt minister tells inquiry: I was the one responsible but it wasn’t my fault »
- Ex-minister denies ‘indifference’ to doubts over legality of robodebt »
- The Robodebt Royal Commission is hearing damning evidence of public sector dysfunction. Now it must probe the question of culture »
- Email reveals top bureaucrat pressed ombudsman to delete comments questioning robodebt’s legality »
- Government lawyer did not turn his mind to ‘significant consequences’ of continuing robodebt, inquiry told »
- Robodebt inquiry hears welfare recipients waited years to be repaid unlawful debts »
- Robodebt legal advice from government solicitors ‘lame’ and ‘unconvincing’, inquiry commissioner Catherine Holmes says »
- ‘Reward and punishment’ public service culture under Morrison government »
- Robodebt: five years of lies, mistakes and failures that caused a $1.8bn scandal
- ‘Amateurish, rushed and disastrous’: royal commission exposes robodebt as ethically indefensible policy targeting vulnerable people
- Why robodebt’s use of ‘income averaging’ lacked basic common sense
- Robodebt not only broke the laws of the land – it also broke laws of mathematics