The findings of the National Anti-Corruption Commission's Robodebt investigation will be devastating to the victims and their loved ones today.
The NACC found two public servants engaged in 'serious corrupt conduct' – but will not refer them for criminal prosecution. Four others, including former prime minister Scott Morrison and former secretary Kathryn Campbell, were found to not have engaged in corrupt conduct.
"For the hundreds of thousands of people harmed by Robodebt, these findings will be devastating," said ACOSS CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie.
"For those who had their lives upended, who lost loved ones, who sold assets or borrowed money to pay phantom debts they never owed – this will be very hard to receive.
"Robodebt destroyed trust in government. With Robodebt, the Coalition government targeted and harmed people on very low incomes. It painted them as criminals and threatened them with jail time if they didn't pay. Some people took their own lives. Others had relationship breakdowns.
"The Coalition Government knowingly tore apart so many lives and, and despite repeated warnings from ACOSS and many others, continued a scheme that was blatantly unfair, and causing harm. Robodebt was criticised from the beginning by people at Centrelink, by advocates, by community legal centres, and most of all by the hundreds of thousands of people it targeted.
"More than five years after the Federal Court ruled Robodebt unlawful, no criminal proceedings have taken place.
"The lack of ministerial accountability for Robodebt sends a message that people receiving social security are second-class citizens, not worthy of justice. As we have said since 2016 when we first heard of Robodebt, it was wrong and needed to be stopped. Today we stand with all affected by the scheme who still wait for justice."
ACOSS strongly endorses the words of Robodebt Royal Commission Commissioner Catherine Holmes SC, who said: "Politicians need to lead a change in social attitudes to people receiving welfare payments. The evidence before the Commission was that fraud in the welfare system was miniscule, but that is not the impression one would get from what ministers responsible for social security payments have said over the years. Anti-welfare rhetoric is easy populism, useful for campaign purposes. It is not recent, nor is it confined to one side of politics. Those attitudes are set by politicians, who need to abandon for good - in every sense - the narrative of taxpayer versus welfare recipient."
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