Scott Morrison could face royal commission over Centrelink Robodebt

Scott Morrison could be hauled before a royal commission into the Robodebt scandal unveiled by Anthony Albanese today.

Mr Albanese believes key questions remain unanswered after a $1.8 billion settlement between Robodebt victims and the government was reached in 2021. 

 ‘Robodebt was, of course, the Coalition’s brainchild – a computer program to find out if someone owed the government money rather than involving a real person,’ Mr Albanese said.

‘One of the commitments that I made was to put the humans back into human services to make sure that this can never happen again. We know that almost 400,000 Australians fell victim to this cruel system. A human tragedy with very real consequences for its victims.’

He said: ‘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.’

The automated matching of tax and Centrelink data to raise debts against welfare recipients for money the coalition government claimed to have overpaid was ruled unlawful in 2019.

But the Morrison government has never detailed who was accountable for the scheme and which ministers knew of its problems.

Scott Morrison was Social Services Minister when the automated scheme – officially named Online Compliance Intervention – was put in place in 2016 to recover overpayments made to welfare recipients.

He will also have to face some type of inquiry – possibly a royal commission – into why he secretly swore himself into five ministerial portfolios in 2020 and 2021 as Labor looks to inflict maximum political damage on the Coalition.

The Robodebt scheme wrongly demanded $1.73billion from 433,000 Australians before it was declared illegal by the Federal Court in 2019. 

Data from the Department of Human Services revealed more than 2,000 people died after getting the automated message they owed money, with about 430 aged under 35.

The court’s ruling sparked a $1.8billion class action settlement for those impacted, but now Government Services Minister Bill Shorten is setting up a high-level inquiry into what went wrong.

Other senior Liberal Party ministers such as an Alan Tudge, Stuart Robert and Christian Porter could also cop a grilling over the ill-fated scheme.

The royal commission will have the scope to dig up who was responsible, what legal advice was received, who was harmed by it and the costs involved.

Robodebt worked by matching tax and Centrelink data to recoup alleged overpayments to some of Australia’s most vulnerable people.

The royal commission is expected to be tasked with establishing who was responsible for the scheme, what advice was used in its implementation and the complaints handling processes.

It would also look at the cost to taxpayers of the debacle and harm caused to those targeted.

The coalition has previously argued $750 million in reimbursements have been made and problems have been addressed.

Labor took the plan for the inquiry to the federal election, arguing robo-debt was a ‘human tragedy’.

The Australian Council of Social Services has previously backed the plan, calling it appropriate and proportionate.

Mr Shorten told News Corp the commission would ‘go where the facts lead them’.

‘This is not about some low-level Centrelink officer,’ he said.

‘Whilst on one level I’m fundamentally angry at the … cold-hearted Coalition ministers who seem to neither know nor care about the harm caused by Robodebt, the reality is that doesn’t capture the whole story.

‘It was the application of unaccountable powers wrapped in a deeply flawed digital service that presented unlawful debts as a false fait accompli to vulnerable Australians.

‘If we are to build the trust of citizens in government then we have to find out what failed.’

Robodebt was labelled a ‘shameful chapter’ in public administration by the judge that approved the settlement between the Commonwealth and victims in 2021.

Justice Bernard Murphy said those hounded by Robodebt and finding amounts suddenly taken from their bank balances felt shame and hurt at being wrongly branded ‘welfare cheats’, with some driven to take their own lives.

However, Justice Murphy stopped short of saying the government knew the scheme was unlawful.

The Commonwealth settled the case without admitting legal liability.

Grieving mother whose son, 22, killed himself after discovering a $2k Robodebt releases heartbreaking audio of his final phone call with the welfare agency

By Zoe Zaczek for Daily Mail Australia

A shattered mother whose son killed himself after he discovered a $2,000 debt under the Robodebt scheme has shared his final phone calls with the welfare agency.

Jarrad Madgwick called Centrelink twice on May 30 last year to find out why his Newstart claim was rejected.

The 22-year-old then went online and discovered a $2,000 Robodebt on his MyGov account. He took his life hours later. 

His mother Kath has now gained access to her son’s final phone calls with Centrelink through a Freedom of Information request.

‘From the start of the year, I wanted the truth. I wanted Centrelink to be very open with me about what discussions they had had with him, what they had sent to him,’ Ms Madgwick told A Current Affair.

Ms Madgwick is adamant her son killed himself after learning of his debt. Services Australia advised Jarrad knew about the sum of money on May 28.

‘My question is, if Jarrad knew about this debt, why would he not have mentioned it in the two lengthy phone calls he had with Centrelink on the 30th?’ she asked. 

In audio from the phone calls, Jarrad sounds distressed about his financial situation. 

‘Um hello… I’m in a pretty desperate situation here and my claim has been rejected after I’ve waited a month and I’ve jumped through all the hoops and I’m just wondering why I haven’t even got an explanation?,’ he asked. 

In another snippet of audio Jarrad said: ‘You’ve rejected my claim so I can’t get backpaid. So now I’m defaulting on all my loan repayments and everything. It’s f*****.’ 

Ms Madgwick said her son’s debt is not mentioned in either of the phone calls, one of which lasted for 19 minutes.  

She hopes Services Australia will publicly apologise to those who fell victim to the Robodebt scheme.  

‘An apology would help. Will it bring my son back? No. But, for the thousands out there that have been suffering through this I think they need the apology,’ she said.  

‘There won’t be a day that I don’t miss him or want to feel him or hear his laugh or have him give me a big hug.

‘Never a day I will go by that I don’t think of him and wish he was here.’ 

Services Australia said senior leaders travelled to meet Ms Madgwick in person on two occasions and apologised for both her own and Jarrad’s experience. 

In a statement to Daily Mail Australia Services Australia said: ‘Services Australia has done all we can to support Ms Madgwick and address her questions over the last year and we continue to offer social worker support.’

She hopes Services Australia will publicly apologise to those who fell victim to the Robodebt scheme.  

‘An apology would help. Will it bring my son back? No. But, for the thousands out there that have been suffering through this I think they need the apology,’ she said.  

‘There won’t be a day that I don’t miss him or want to feel him or hear his laugh or have him give me a big hug.

‘Never a day I will go by that I don’t think of him and wish he was here.’ 

Services Australia said senior leaders travelled to meet Ms Madgwick in person on two occasions and apologised for both her own and Jarrad’s experience. 

In a statement to Daily Mail Australia Services Australia said: ‘Services Australia has done all we can to support Ms Madgwick and address her questions over the last year and we continue to offer social worker support.’

 

 

 

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