Centrelink Still Owes $112 Million To Robodebt Victims
394,000 people were listed in the class action lawsuit.
The Australian government still owes more than $112 million to robodebt victims after a massive class action lawsuit.
Services Australia’s inaccurate income average system resulted in 394,000 class action lawsuit members having to pay unlawful debts between 2015 and 2019. While the government entity has already repaid nearly $1.73 billion in unlawful debts to date, an additional $112 million is owed to victims to account for interest.
The massive settlement also includes Gordon’s legal fees of approximately $9.6 million. While payments to individuals will vary greatly based on the size and length of the debt, Federal Court documents revealed that approximately 275 victims will receive the highest payouts of between $20,000 and $25,000 each.
First sketch of how #robodebt settlement amounts are likely to breakdown provided by the federal court in reasons published on Friday. Highest amounts likely will date from the 2015 interim programme, people who copped the debt before any outcry. And those tax garnisheed pic.twitter.com/qkIBrvjVPa
— Darren O’Donovan (@DarrenODonovan) July 17, 2022
Services Australia initially promised to pay out the remainder of the settlement back in March, but pushed the date back until June. However, the payments are still yet to be made, despite the victims’ lawyers contacting Services Australia.
“The process has been very delayed,” Gordon Legal partner Andrew Grech, who represents the class action victims, told 9News. “Services Australia told us that they would get the payments out in March and then they told us June and now they’re not saying when they’ll get them out – which is quite troubling.
“It’s pretty unacceptable that it’s taken this long.”
Additionally, Services Australia is yet to actually inform victims as to how much their individual settlement amounts to, having only told them whether or not they were entitled to some sort of reimbursement.
But despite contact from Gordon Legal, Services Australia remains tight-lipped on when the payments can be expected.
“There are a number of steps in the settlement distribution scheme process that need to be completed before we can start making payments,” a spokesperson told 9 News. “We’re working hard to provide payments as soon as possible.”