The government has acknowledged wrongdoing in regards to the unlawful
Centrelink scheme, but just paying back the money is not enough
Letecia Luty: The mental cost was more profound than the money
It’s hard to know what adequate compensation looks like for the half a million Australian’s whose robodebts will be waived, after the government acknowledged last Friday that they’ve illegally taken $721m from people like me. A lot of vulnerable people didn’t have many (or any) options, so they accepted to go on payment plans. I know of one single mother who had worked off $20,000 of an inaccurate and unlawful $30,000 debt. I’m glad she will be getting her money back, but people may have died because of this. Several families of robodebt victims say receiving letters was a contributing factor in their loved ones committing suicide. Our federal welfare agency was referring suicidal callers to Lifeline. What does “a fair go” look like for those people and their families?It’s hard to describe the feeling of absolute disempowerment that comes from dealing with Centrelink. Pursuing robodebt was the signature policy of Taskforce Integrity. The name says it all: a taskforce created to deal with those who lack integrity. Stuart Robert launched the initiative with this claim: “You are not just cheating and stealing from the government; you are stealing from your neighbour; you are stealing from those genuinely in need.” This is the same guy who eventually repaid $38,000 in taxpayer money for “residential internet costs.”
The government has acknowledged wrongdoing in regards to robodebt, but they’ve refused to apologise. In an interview with Alan Jones, Stuart Robert sounded shocked when he said that “decent people” had found themselves “very quickly in very difficult circumstances” due to Covid-19. This is obviously true, but the inference is that those who experienced hardship before the coronavirus struck were not, in fact, decent people. We’re talking about people with disabilities, seniors, students, single mothers and those actively looking for work. I spoke at the Senate committee and testified to the psychological damage Taskforce Integrity has caused.
Through support from Legal Aid, my “debt” had already been reduced to $0 by the time the refunds were announced. But the mental cost of dealing with an institution that bullies and disempowers its clients was always more profound than the money.
Jamie Luxton: Being informed of my debt put me in a hopeless headspace
In 2018, I was struggling through a Certificate IV in Mental Health when I got a call in the middle of class from someone from Centrelink.I am on the Disability Support Pension for treatment resistant bipolar disorder, yet based on the manner in which I was informed that I owed thousands of dollars from many years ago, it was clear that the person I spoke to had no training in how to communicate responsibly and sensitively with someone who experiences mental health issues.
As someone who can experience suicidal thoughts even on what I would call a good day, being informed that I was supposedly thousands of dollars of debt instantly put me in the sort of hopeless headspace which brings on suicidal ideation.
I remember swearing and hanging up, leaving class frustrated and angry to call my parents and tell them what had happened.
Fortunately, I have supportive parents who were able to lend me the money to pay the so-called debt which I had no time, energy or evidence with which to dispute.
I am disgusted and furious about those who reportedly lost their lives at the hands of this inhumane government who established this ill-considered and illegal scheme.
I could very easily have been another death if not for my parents’ assistance.
The continual denials that there was anything wrong with robodebt, up until the point at which they lost a court case last year, seemed to show that many people in our government are completely oblivious to the experience of the majority of Australians. It should not have taken so long for them to realise the program was unlawful.
The government has now effectively been found guilty of stealing from the poor and vulnerable and that has been acknowledged in the fact that they are paying back the money, but they don’t have the integrity required to apologise for the suffering.
I don’t think simply returning the money taken goes far enough. After all, no one else would get away with theft or extortion by simply returning what was taken.
I think compensation should be paid to those affected, particularly to any families who have lost loved ones.
Those who devised this frankly shameful scheme should be held to account. I am sure I am not the only person who feels that to see some accountability where it’s due would mean a lot. Additionally an apology should be made to each and every person affected by the scheme.
- Crisis support services can be reached 24 hours a day: Lifeline 13 11 14; Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467; Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800; MensLine Australia 1300 78 99 78; Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636
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