PM launches probe into "unlawful" robodebt scheme
Anthony Albanese has shared the details of a royal commission into the Centrelink robodebt scheme, which he committed to during the election.
Robodebt was rolled out by the Coalition government between 2015 and 2019, which was an automated debt recovery program that was fraught with errors.
The scheme used an automated system to match data from Centrelink and the ATO to raise debts against welfare recipients for money the then-government claimed was overpaid.
During the election campaign, the Prime Minister described the ordeal as a “human tragedy, wrought by (the Coalition) government."
“Against all evidence, and all the outcry, the government insisted on using algorithms instead of people to pursue debt recovery against Australians who in many cases had no debt to pay,” Albanese said.
The program, which was found to be unlawful in 2019, raised over $1billion in debts against 443,000 Australians.
In total, $751million was wrongly collected from 381,000 people.
A $1.8billion settlement between victims and the federal government was reached in 2020 after a class-action lawsuit.
Despite Albanese's determination to dive into what went wrong during the scheme, the Coalition had argued there was no need for an inquiry given the settlement.
Scott Morrison, who was social services minister when the unlawful scheme was conceived, has repeatedly denied he was personally responsible for the program.
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