Robodebt was Illegal !

Internal emails revealed in the Federal parliament show that the Social Services department which controls Centrelink was advised by the Australian Tax department that its overpayment  recovery programme - known as " Robodebt " - was illegal.

These debts were based solely on DSS own income averaging of ATO annual tax data and not lawful debt.  The Robodebt system matched  tax office and Centrelink data to claw back overpaid welfare payments with recipients contacted by the system and told they had to prove they did not owe the flagged debt.

The onus was not on Centrelink to prove they owed the money but on them to prove otherwise. Ordinary citizens were confronted with the bewildering array of government jargon contained in the legislation that authorised payments which was usually way beyond their level of understanding.  All the recovery weapons were in Centrelink's hands.   They had the authority to intercept tax refunds and withdraw money from bank accounts.  If all else fails they had the option to call in the bailiffs and sell up the debtors property.

The anguish this caused was unimaginable.  It is highly likely that despair contributed to some suicides and in many cases the debtor simply paid the debt because no other reasonable action was available to them.  They repaid money they did not legally owe the government.  When the matter later went to a Federal court it delivered a finding that the scheme was unlawful.

Robodebt is now a dead issue and recovery has ceased.  The appropriate Federal minister has introduced legislation to change the recording of recipients income to when paid rather than when earned and it is believed that this will prevent people being paid the wrong amount of welfare.

There is no doubt that Robodebt persisted far too long after its shortcomings became evident.  The anguish and injustice it was causing received wide publicity and yet the department was relentless in seeking recovery of debt its own assessors must have known it could not reasonably and lawfully substantiate in court.  It was a giant bluff that used the government's coercive power to force compliance.

It is quite possible that some clients have not applied for benefits to which they are legally entitled because of fear of becoming involved in heavy handed recovery action, and the people who have paid this Robodebt which was unlawfully levied, should have those payments returned.

This whole Robodebt fiasco throws doubt on the governments integrity and honesty.  We expect better of the men and women we send to occupy the Treasury benches and not least is the expectation that they will look after the interests of the people of Australia.

Robodebt was certainly not their finest hour. Unless they improve their performance it will have consequences !