Key recommendations from the Robodebt Royal Commission are yet to be implemented two years after the findings were handed to Government.
ACOSS Program Director of Social Security Charmaine Crowe said alarming flaws in the social security system remained in the wake of the scheme which, between 2015-2020, illegally calculated debt by averaging annual income earned by people receiving income support over fortnights, resulting in inaccurate debts.
Ms Crowe said 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.
She said they were told to prove their innocence or pay up.
“Robodebt was a shocking abuse of government power that caused severe distress to more than 400,000 innocent people,” Ms Crowe said.
“Many of the victims suffered financial hardship, relationship breakdowns, mental health difficulties and some were driven to self-harm.”
She said while the government had made some positive steps to improve social security administration in light of the Royal Commission there remained 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.”
Ms Crowe said the Federal Government also needed to adopt the remaining recommendations of the Robodebt Royal Commission, including:
- Legislating a statute of limitations on debt recovery.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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,” she said.
