Former public servant calls for accountability, ahead of robodebt report

The findings of the robodebt royal commission are due to be published after Commissioner Catherine Holmes presents them to Governor-General David Hurley on Friday.

The scheme operated between 2015 and 2019, and automatically raised debts against social welfare recipients by comparing reported fortnightly income with averaged annual pay data from the tax office, in a process known as income averaging.

Those who received debt notices were responsible for proving them incorrect, demanding huge efforts to gather evidence.

Commissioner Holmes' report will establish who was responsible for the design, development and establishment of the scheme, which the government's top legal adviser found to be unlawful in November 2019.

The commissioner will also make recommendations on steps which should be taken to prevent any failures of public administration identified from happening again.

Luke Baker saw the distress of those affected by the unlawful scheme firsthand, working at a Centrelink office in Victoria between 2014 and 2017.

"We'd never seen anything like that, that there was a lack of evidence and the decision to make a debt was sort of magical," Mr Baker, who was responsible for reviewing debt notices, said.

"There was no reason for the debt."

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He, and other public servants, told the royal commission the scheme marked a significant change to earlier processes, in which compliance officers collected evidence to determine the existence of debt.

"So the premise of it was wrong and then to put into the system that those [Centrelink] staff members could not overturn that decision to raise the debt meant the customer was crucified.

"They had to have immense skills to get to the point where they could even have an appeal heard."

Mr Baker felt he was targeted in the workplace for being vocal about his concerns, leading to him eventually taking redundancy in 2017.

"I felt like I was being targeted by the department, and I was.

"I didn't realise that was widespread until the royal commission ... a whole lot of things made more sense."

Community and Public Sector Union national secretary Melissa Donnelly said Friday would be a "difficult day for many Australians", including those who had been affected by the scheme and the staff on the frontline forced to implement it.

"We know it had devastating consequences, we know it was unlawful, and that no one has been held accountable.

"But the time for accountability is not behind us. It must start today.

"People from all walks of life will be watching on today because of the widespread trauma inflicted by this scheme."

She said the CPSU wants the royal commission's report "to bring accountability for all those whose lives were harmed" by the scheme, and that Services Australia staff wanted an apology from the government.

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