The government’s “robo-debt” bill could run to hundreds of millions of dollars, as it faces calls to provide welfare recipients with more information about how it will review old debt recovery decisions which relied on invalid methods, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
In a landmark court case last month, the federal government admitted a key element of the beleaguered robo-debt system is unlawful.
The admission follows news that the Morrison government would no longer rely solely on averaged income data from the tax office to raise debts, and would review hundreds of thousands of robo-debt cases.
Government Services Minister Stuart Robert has previously said only a “small cohort” of people will be affected by the reviews, but Services Australia data provided to the Senate suggests at least 220,000 cases stand to be re-examined.
FULL STORY
Government’s robo-debt bill could run to ‘hundreds of millions’ after landmark case (Sydney Morning Herald)
Government Scraps Major Part Of Robodebt System Affecting Thousands (10daily)
Government halting key part of robodebt scheme to recover debts from welfare recipients (ABC News)
Robodebt class action to go ahead despite overhaul of Centrelink debt recovery (The Guardian)
The Aussies taking on Centrelink in court on behalf of thousands (9news)