The Greens have called on Labor to stop all welfare payment suspensions immediately, following the damning Commonwealth Ombudsman's report into the scheme today which found over 1,000 welfare recipients had their welfare payments unlawfully cancelled by the automated system over two years.
The call to end payment suspensions is echoed by the Anti-Poverty Center, Economic Justice Australia and the Australian Council of Social Services.
While the Department has 'paused' the cancellation and reduction of payments under the scheme following legal advice that it was unlawful, tens of thousands of welfare recipients are still subject to payment suspensions every month.
As the Anti-Poverty Center has identified, nearly 350,000 payment suspensions were issued just in the first quarter of 2025, affecting more than 280,000 people out of the roughly 800,000 who had requirements during the period.1
The Ombudsman's report slammed the Government for being slow to act on legal advice which suggested the TCF was unlawful, and that it took them almost a year to pause cancellations and reductions in welfare debts. Harmful payment suspensions continue to this day.
The report shows the government still holds a callous disregard for the impacts of their decisions on vulnerable welfare recipients and they have not learned from Robodebt.
As stated by Senator Penny Allman-Payne, Greens spokesperson for Social Services:
"Have Labor learned nothing from Robodebt?"
"The Greens are urging Labor to stop suspending people's welfare payments right now."
"If Labor won't stop payment suspensions today, then people already living below the poverty line will go hungry tomorrow."
"It took the government almost 12 months to stop cancellations of payments from when they were told it was unlawful. The department knew this was probably illegal but they continued it anyway."
"Now two years on, the Targeted Compliance Framework still means thousands of welfare recipients unfairly and routinely lose access to payments they need to put food on the table."
"Robodebt taught us these automated systems can't be trusted with people's lives."
"If Labor continues to allow welfare payment suspensions now, it shows they don't really care about what happens to people on welfare, and they've learned nothing from Robodebt."
"It is clear that the TCF is an expensive hangover from a conservative government which has been heartlessly prolonged by this Labor government for far too long."
