Two years on from the findings of the Robodebt Royal Commission, the Federal Government has still not implemented all of its recommendations, and alarming flaws in the social security system remain.
“Robodebt was a shocking abuse of government power that caused severe distress to more than 400,000 innocent people,” said Charmaine Crowe, ACOSS Program Director of Social Security.
Robodebt was a scheme implemented from 2015-2020 that illegally calculated social security debts by averaging annual income earned by people receiving income support over fortnights, resulting in inaccurate debts.
“Many of the victims suffered financial hardship, relationship breakdowns, mental health difficulties and some were driven to self-harm,” said Ms Crowe.
“While the government has made some positive steps to improve social security administration in light of the Royal Commission, including implementing an advocates channel and strengthening the Ombudsman’s powers, there remains a lot more work to do.
“It is particularly concerning that no-individuals involved have been properly held to account for the enormous injustice inflicted on hundreds of thousands of innocent people.”
ACOSS is calling on the Federal Government to adopt the remaining recommendations of the Robodebt Royal Commission, including:
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Legislating a statute of limitations on debt recovery - a key recommendation that remains unaddressed.
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Refraining from recovering debts under review - the default position is to continue recovery even when a debt is under review, rather than pausing automatically. A person can request a pause to debt recovery if it is under review.
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Clarifying protections for people in vulnerable circumstances - it's still unclear how people in severe hardship are systematically shielded from compliance actions that could worsen their situation.
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Introducing a duty of care - the government still has no formal obligation to ensure people are receiving the correct payment for their personal circumstances.
“These reforms are vital to improving our social security system and ensuring that nothing like Robodebt can ever happen again,” said Ms Crowe.
“We urge the government to take swift action to address these ongoing problems, particularly in light of other failures to properly administer the system, like the Targeted Compliance Framework, where people have had their payments wrongly cancelled.”
In the Robodebt scandal, hundreds of thousands of people were plunged into a state of crisis after receiving a notice claiming they owed the government money from years ago, often in the tens of thousands of dollars. They were told to prove their innocence or pay up.
Many people were driven to suicidal ideation and, according to reports, at least two people died by suicide after receiving a Robodebt. Other victims suffered relationship breakdowns and many refused to apply for social security or accept paid work following Robodebt for fear of incurring another debt.
Contact details:
Lauren Ferri: 0422 581 506