Royal commission announced into Robodebt

The Robodebt royal commission will look at:

• The establishment, design and implementation of the scheme; who was responsible for it; why they considered Robodebt necessary; and, any concerns raised regarding the legality and fairness
• The handling of concerns raised about the scheme, including adverse decisions made by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal
• The outcomes of the scheme, including the harm to vulnerable individuals and the total financial cost to government
• Measures needed to prevent similar failures in public administration

It will be led by Catherine Holmes AC SC, a former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland who led the Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry following the 2010–11 floods. She also acted as counsel assisting the Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Queensland Institutions in 1998–99. 

The headquarters of the royal commission will be in Brisbane and information about hearing dates and how to participate will be provided in the coming weeks.

A legal financial assistance scheme will be available to people requested to formally engage with the royal commission, for example, to appear as a witness.

A final report is expected to be delivered to the Governor-General by 18 April 2023.

Speaking of the royal commission on Thursday morning (25 August), the Prime Minister said: “One of the commitments that I made was to put the humans back into human services, to make sure that this can never happen again. We know that almost 400,000 Australians fell victim to this cruel system, a human tragedy with very real consequences for its victims.

“The Royal Commission will examine the establishment of the scheme, who was responsible for it and why it was necessary, how concerns were handled, how the scheme affected individuals and the financial costs to government, and measures to prevent this ever happening again.”

Addressing journalists about the cost of the royal commission, Mr Albanese said: “I tell you what’s expensive – the more than billion dollars that this process has cost. It cost the Federal Government that money because of the way that this was handled. 

“I'll tell you the other cost... the human cost of this. People lost their lives.

“Every single one of my local constituents, and every Member of Parliament can tell stories like this, who came through to my electorate office with one of these alleged debts had it either wiped in full or wiped in almost-full. What that told us was that those people who were more capable of going to their local member and making representations got their debts squashed because they didn’t owe any money.

“But what we also know is that those people who were most vulnerable were the least likely to go to their local member, to have the confidence to do that. And that’s why we need to get to the heart of why this occurred.

“This is such a serious issue. We committed, at the time, to this Royal Commission. This is a commitment that we have a mandate for and a commitment that we have a responsibility to fulfil.”

Bill Shorten, Minister for Government Services, added that while the Federal Court had ruled in favour of the class action previously, “the class action was about seeking restitution of the money that was wrongly paid” but “we never got to hear how the scheme got to be conceived, designed”.

“It was unlawful. There was no legal power to do what they were doing, to take the humans out of the system, to reverse the onus of proof,” he said.

“We never got to hear that once people started saying it may be unlawful, why did the government continue it for four and a half years?

“The government has never satisfactorily explained how this monster scheme got away from the system and just had a life of its own.”

[Related: Final banking royal commission report released]