Mother of Robodebt victim being told to be ineligible for compensation

The mother of a Robodebt victim who ended his life says she is experiencing “injustice of another kind” after commonwealth lawyers said she would be excluded from an historic $475m class action settlement.

The $475m settlement followed an appeal by Gordon Legal of the original robodebt class action, settled in 2020. The appeal focused on the grounds that the robodebt royal commission had in July 2023 unearthed “damning new evidence” to support claims that the public servants who ran the scheme engaged in “malfeasance in public office”.

Jarrad was informed through his MyGov portal that “the review would be processed” and that “a provisional debt outcome” had been determined in the amount of $1,795.85 for the period 28 April 2018 to 22 June 2018.

Two days later after speaking with Centrelink, Jarrad told his mother he didn’t believe he would receive his Newstart allowance because of the debt. He died by suicide that evening.

The federal government last year agreed to pay an additional $475m in compensation to about 450,000 victims of the robodebt scandal. But Madgwick said commonwealth lawyers informed her last month she would not be eligible, because her son did not receive an official debt notice before or after his death. Services Australia, which administers support payments, also disputes Jarrad’s estimated debt was generated through the unlawful income averaging method used in the scheme; This is despite a royal commission detailing the impacts that the scheme has had on the Madgwick family.

A spokesperson for Services Australia said the agency acknowledged the royal commission’s findings about Jarrad’s “circumstances and the profound impact of the Robodebt scheme on individuals, families and vulnerable people”. The spokesperson also said it now recognised communication about potential debts have “caused distress, particularly for vulnerable customers”. However, they disputed that his provisional debt outcome was calculated using income averaging.