Today's Commonwealth Ombudsman Report finding that Services Australia and the Department of Social Services has been non-compliant with social security law regarding child support for the past six years shows a Department which has learned nothing from Robodebt and is seemingly incapable of administering the law.
As the Ombudsman notes in their report today, "Knowingly and deliberately not complying with the law was at the heart of Robodebt.", yet the Government has persistent issues with following social services law, often to the harm of welfare recipients.
Last year, two separate Commonwealth Ombudsman inquiries and an external review from Deloitte could not assure the lawfulness of the Targeted Compliance Framework, under which over a hundred thousand welfare payments are withheld from recipients every month under the system known as 'mutual obligations'.
