In this file photo dated to May 19, 2022, a couple watch as the sun sets over the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia. (PHOTO / AP)
CANBERRA – The Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme in Australia on Friday released its final report on the former federal government's automated debt-raising policy, describing it as "crude and cruel."
Launched in 2015, the Robodebt Scheme came to an end in 2020 after the Federal Court found that it was unlawful in late 2019.
The three-volume, 990-page report includes 57 recommendations and a separate sealed chapter recommending the referral of individuals for civil action or criminal prosecution.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said this is another step toward delivering justice for the more than 500,000 victims of the former government's unlawful five-year-long Robodebt Scheme
"Robodebt was a crude and cruel mechanism, neither fair nor legal, and it made many people feel like criminals," the report read.
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"In essence, people were traumatized on the off-chance they might owe money. It was a costly failure of public administration, in both human and economic terms."
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said this is another step toward delivering justice for the more than 500,000 victims of the former government's unlawful five-year-long Robodebt Scheme.
The inquiry heard that public servants were repeatedly warned the scheme was unlawful.
Some victims, among hundreds of thousands of welfare recipients wrongly accused of owing money to Centrelink, a Services Australia master program of the Australian government, spoke of their anxiety after receiving a notice and difficulties in engaging with the agency.
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Albanese said the Australian government would consider the recommendations presented in the Royal Commission's final report carefully and provide a full response in due course.