The Federal Government is facing growing calls for a royal commission into the failed Robodebt scheme, with Labor demanding an inquiry into how hundreds of thousands of Australians were issued unlawful government debts.
Key points:
- Labor has joined calls for a royal commission to examine robodebt
- The Government will begin repaying unlawfully calculated debts next month
- Prime Minister Scott Morrison apologised for "hurt or hardship" caused by the scheme last month
In many cases, automated debt notices were sent to vulnerable people who did not owe the Government a cent, with allegations it caused financial hardship and distress for thousands.
Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Scott Morrison apologised to recipients of the letters, after the Government for years defended the program.
"The business of raising and recovering debts on behalf of taxpayers is a difficult job," he said.
"Of course, I would deeply regret any hardship that has been caused to people in the conduct of that activity."
But the Opposition today will ramp up calls for wide-ranging scrutiny of the scheme, calling for a royal commission to be established into the matter.
Labor argues that is the only way to get to the bottom of how the scheme, which was branded "unlawful" by the Federal Court, was implemented.
It also says a royal commission should examine whether Robodebt notices contributed to some people taking their own lives, as has been suggested by the families of some recipients.
From the start of next month, the Government will begin repaying money to people who complied with the unlawful debt notices, having waived all debts associated with the scheme.
The Government expects the process of waiving and repaying 470,000 debts belonging to more than 370,000 individuals to take several months and cost $721 million.
The Greens have been calling for a royal commission into the scheme since the Government announced it would pay back the debts to welfare recipients last month.
Class action seeking damages for recipients
Robodebt refers to the Government practice of issuing automated debt notices to welfare recipients based on income averaging.
If a person's reported income did not match other government records, a notice was issued.
But the scheme was criticised for failing to account for variations in a person's income, often leading to debt notices being issued to people who did not owe the Government money.
The Government is currently facing a class action from people who say they were wronged by the scheme, with lawyers for the plaintiffs seeking damages on top of repaid debts.
Speaking on the matter two weeks ago, Mr Morrison said the Government would learn from the process.
"Where there are lessons to be learnt here, they will be learnt," he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment