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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Christopher Knaus

Debt collectors face calls to return $11.6m retrieved under unlawful robodebt scheme

RoboDebt Rhys Cauzzo Cassandra Goldie Catherine Holmes Centrelink ARL DHS Dun Bradstreet Greens Services Australia
ACOSS chief executive Cassandra Goldie.
Acoss CEO Cassandra Goldie says the public money spent on external debt collectors and revealed in the robodebt royal commission report is ‘shameful’. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

Corporate debt collectors are facing calls to return more than $11m in taxpayers’ money they earned by chasing down welfare recipients for debts raised under the unlawful robodebt scheme.

The royal commission’s report on Friday was damning about the involvement of private debt collection firms in the program, who were paid commissions for retrieving money from welfare recipients.

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