The Australian government’s senior bureaucrats have parachuted a former top public servant who was a key figure in the illegal debt recovery scheme Robodebt into a new job that comes with a $ 900,000-a-year salary. Top politicians managed to appoint Kathryn Campbell, former secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trades (DFAT), as an…
Robodebt Report Evidence Now in Hands of Crime Fighters
Federal police and the anti-corruption watchdog are considering civil and criminal evidence following a damning report into the robodebt scheme. More than 100 ministers, advisers, public servants and contractors gave evidence in the royal commission, which tabled its report in federal parliament on July 7. A sealed chapter of the report recommended the referral of a…
Australian Government Increases Funding to Boost Disability Employment
The Australian government has introduced a funding boost to improve the employment of people with a disability by making workplaces safer and more accessible. On April 13, the Australian government announced changes to the caps of the Employment Assistance Fund (EAF), which provides financial assistance for work-related modifications, equipment, disability awareness training and Auslan (Australian…
Department Misled Independent Watchdog on Robodebt
A former senior public servant has become emotional after finding out key documents that would have helped end the robodebt scheme were withheld from her investigation. The royal commission into the illegal scheme is seeking to understand the role of the Commonwealth Ombudsman, whose 2017 report identified a number of flaws but stopped short of…
‘Shocking and Scary’: Woman Who Fell Victim to Robodebt Scheme Revisits Experience
The woman who was slapped with an unlawful $2,500 Centrelink debt notice by the Australian government’s automated debt system known as Robodebt has come forward with her experience. Deanna Amato challenged the debt in court in June 2019. It was later revealed that the debt program identified welfare recipients as having debts based on income…
Robodebt Proposals Created Amid ‘Pressure’
A senior public servant has rejected a controversial income averaging process that was fundamental to proposals for the now-defunct robodebt recovery scheme amid “relentless” departmental pressure at the time. A royal commission, sitting in Brisbane, is probing how the automated robodebt scheme went ahead despite federal government departments knowing the calculation method was unlawful. The…
Key Robodebt Documents From Services Australia Won’t Be Released: Tribunal
Documents that may have revealed what former ministers knew about the failed robodebt scheme will not be released, a tribunal has ruled. Advocate Justin Warren first requested access to the 12 documents in 2017 under freedom of information laws but the Administrative Appeals Tribunal on Sunday decided to only release one. The requested documents include…
Investigation Into Former Australian Government’s Unlawful Debt Recovery Scheme Officially Launched
The Royal Commission has launched a major investigation into an unlawful debt recovery program initiated by the Australian government in 2016 and promised to hold those in charge to account. On Sept. 27, the commission held an initial public hearing in Brisbane and made brief opening statements on the investigation. The commission said the first…
Labor Promises Robodebt Royal Commission
Australian Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese says a Labor government would set up a royal commission, the country’s highest form of public inquiry, into the unlawful Robodebt scheme, which he describes as a “human tragedy.” The automated matching of tax and Centrelink data to raise debts against welfare recipients, for money the coalition Liberal-Nationals government claimed…
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