- Published:
- Monday, 12 October 2020 at 11:00 am
We’ve made recommendations to prevent another robo-debt scheme from ever happening again.
‘The value of refunded and zeroed robo-debts was recently estimated at $950 million dollars – that’s nearly a billion dollars in unlawful debts that the Australian Government asked people to pay up,’ said Rowan McRae, Executive Director of Civil Justice Access and Equity. ‘It is essential that the decisions that led to the scheme are scrutinised and that we understand how warning signs of its unlawfulness were ignored,’ she said.
In a short submission to the Senate Committee examining the scheme, we note that while unlawful elements of the scheme have been halted after our client Deanna’s test case, the following concerns remain unresolved:
- Ensuring no unfair aspects of Robodebt are re-introduced or maintained
- Extending COVID-19 measures to prevent future hardship, and
- Learning from the mistakes of Robodebt for future decision-making.
The submission states ‘VLA considers that there are significant lessons for Centrelink, Services Australia and the Australian Government more broadly about how Robodebt was planned, designed and implemented over a number of years, in the face of sustained public criticism. Alarmingly, existing mechanisms designed to facilitate access to information, circuit breakers to prompt reviews and reconsideration of government policies and programs, all failed to stop Robodebt.’
‘Centrelink’s debt recovery is on pause due to the pandemic but is due to resume at the end of this month,’ said Rowan. ‘We would like an assurance that the terrible unfairness of robo-debt will not be repeated; including asking people to find years-old payslips and bank statements to prove whether or not they owe money. In our view, this reverse onus on people to disprove that a debt exists does not comply with the Social Security Act’, she said.
‘While the socioeconomic impacts are continuing to be felt and hardship measures like the JobKeeper program are necessary, we think it's inappropriate for Centrelink debt recovery to be resumed. An extension of this pause to at least March 2021, inline with the JobKeeper extension seems like a common sense way forward,’ Rowan said.
Our recommendations highlight the need for a further inquiry into Robodebt to prevent a repeat for future government programs, as recommended by the Committee in its second interim report.
Steps for a fairer way forward
Recommendation 1: The Australian Government should confirm that when Centrelink debt recovery resumes, Centrelink will not attempt to re-introduce the reverse onus of proof by continuing to require individuals to provide additional documentation (e.g. payslips or bank statements) to disprove a Centrelink debt or threat of a debt, or to rely on these documents to raise a Centrelink debt without sufficient proof.
Recommendation 2: Centrelink should review its processes to ensure people can access statutory reviews available under the Social Security Act (Administration) Act 1999 (Cth).
Recommendation 3: The Australian Government should ensure Centrelink is adequately resourced with properly trained staff to implement accurate systems, and provide accessible and high quality services without significant delays for service users.
Recommendation 4: The Australian Government should ensure:
- applying the 10% penalty is only done in accordance with the law
- debt recovery practices do not cause or exacerbate hardship for people in exceptional circumstances (e.g. family violence, financial hardship, homelessness, mental health issues, etc.), and
- external debt collection agencies operate within a framework which includes strict compliance with guidelines and effective complaint and review mechanisms.
Recommendation 5: The Australian Government should extend the pause on Centrelink debt recovery until other COVID-19 measures have been extended (e.g. at least 28 March 2021 in line with JobKeeper payments).
Recommendation 6: The Australian Government should improve mechanisms to access information about government programs and decisions so people affected understand processes used and reasons for outcomes, particularly relating to Centrelink debt recovery.
Recommendation 7: Any new Centrelink debt recovery and automated government processes should:
- properly consider the lawfulness and potential community impact of new systems before they are introduced,
- consult and co-design with relevant agencies (e.g. Legal Aid Commissions, social security CLCs, financial counsellors) and affected communities to inform their development, and
- ensure support services are aware of timelines so they can prepare information and plan services for people likely to be affected.
Recommendation 8: The Australian Government should re-visit existing policies and procedures to assess why Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) decisions were ignored, and how to ensure obligations to properly administer the social security system are upheld.
More information
Read the 7-page submission.
Read about our test case that led to robo-debt refunds.
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