$720m in robo-debt refunded

MORE than $720 million raised through the Morrison Government’s controversial robo-debt program will be refunded.

Government Services Minister Stuart Robert said the scheme was not “sufficient under law”, so the Government would return the money “and move forward with our income compliance program with further proof points”.

About 470,000 debts were raised through the defunct welfare scheme, which is now the subject of a class action n challenge.

The debts are linked to about 373,000 Australians as some people were made to repay Centrelink multiple e times.

Mr Robert said the repayments would be made automatically. Interest payments and recovery fees will also be refunded.

The controversial system was ruled unlawful last year, with the Federal Court saying Centrelink could not have been satisfied the debt was correct. The Government had wound back the scheme prior to the court decision.

The scheme matched Australian Taxation Office and Centrelink data to claw back overpaid welfare payments.

People were automatically contacted if Centrelink thought they might owe more than $1000. One in five debt letters sent were based on false information.

Labor’s government services spokesman Bill Shorten said Mr Robert should apologise “to the multitude of robodebt victims who have suffered so much because of this scandal”.

Greens senator Rachel Siewert said it was impossible to count the social and economic cost of the scheme.

The previous Labor Government introduced a similar process in 2011 but had each case reviewed by a staff member at the Department of Human Services.

The Coalition moved to a fully-automated system in 2016.