A Queensland mother whose son took his own life just hours after learning he had a Centrelink debt has called for justice and accountability at the Royal Commission into the Robodebt SchemeRobodebt Scheme.
Kath Madgwick told the first hearing of the royal commission in Brisbane that people need to know who is responsible for this and that people need to be held accountable.
Her son, Jarrad Madgwick, was suffering from mental health issues when he discovered he had a debt of just over $2,000.
After losing his job, he applied for Centrelink.
Ms Madgwick said that it was wrong, it should never have occurred, and a machine shouldn't be dealing with vulnerable people.
Robodebt is a name given to the automated debt recovery program from 2015 to 2019, which unlawfully claimed almost $2 billion from more than 400,000 people.
Commissioner Catherine Holmes called for those willing to share their experience with the Robodebt scheme to make a submission to reveal the human impact of what happened.
She said it was a difficult time in the lives of thousands of people who were told they had debts to pay.
Commission to focus on those in senior positions.
Commissioner Holmes told the inquiry that it will focus on those in senior positions who had oversight of the unlawful automated program.
The Robodebt scheme is well known, but not much has been revealed about what advice or consultation or response to criticism that occurred behind the scenes at any stage, Commissioner Holmes said.
She said that the focus will be on those in senior positions who had or should have oversight of the situation, in accordance with the terms of reference.
Former ministers including Scott Morrison, Alan Tudge and Stuart Robert are expected to be called as witnesses.
Commissioner Holmes said the scheme's premise was unsound as it treated average earnings as actual earnings.
The notion of averaging was not new.
She said that the Department of Human Services began using an automated process to demand information from current and former recipients on a scale not previously attempted in 2016 with the implementation of the Robodebt scheme.
Greggery KC told the hearing that the first form of the Robodebt scheme appeared in an executive minute from the Department of Human Services to the Minister for Social Services in February 2015, which has not been made public.
After some planning, that executive minute must have been produced. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal had already declared the scheme invalid in the years before the Federal Court ruled it unconstitutional in 2019.
Several complaints emerged just months after the scheme started, according to Justin Greggery KC.
Ministers and those in senior roles in the Australian public service stated that the system worked well in the face of public questions about the process.
He said there were a number of flaws in the system that were not actually known at the commencement, but were identified soon after the implementation of the scheme.
There will be public hearings in Brisbane starting October 31, with some witnesses being allowed to give evidence via a video link.
Online submissions are open until February with a final report due in April.