Newcastle registered nurse Paul Collins says his dealings with Centrelink during the robodebt scandal left him distrustful of government and mentally scarred.
Mr Collins welcomed the release on Friday of a royal commission report which recommended civil and criminal proceedings against individuals involved in the illegal debt-recovery scheme and criticised the conduct of former ministers Scott Morrison, Alan Tudge and Christian Porter.
Mr Collins was forced on to sickness benefits for 16 weeks after breaking his wrist while on holiday in 2012.
He said he had told Centrelink as soon as he no longer needed the benefits, only to be hounded for weeks by the agency for a $5500 "debt" he did not owe.
"The day that I got the OK from John Hunter to go back to work at the Stockton Centre I literally drove from John Hunter down to Wallsend Centrelink and told them that I had got the all-clear," he said.
He was reduced to tears during one of the dozen or so phone calls he received from Centrelink staff demanding the money and threatening to garnish his tax returns.
"In the end, I was crying on the phone to him, saying, 'I do not owe you any money'," Mr Collins said.
"Even though I knew I'd done nothing wrong, it was just destroying me mentally.
"The way I was treated as a cheat and somebody who was trying to get money out of the government, for no valid reason, really hurt my core values and, you know, I do feel damaged by it still to this day."
Royal commissioner Catherine Holmes, SC, found the robodebt scheme was born out of a culture of "casting welfare recipients as a burden on the economy" and "generally making the condition of the social security recipient unpleasant and undesirable".
She found Mr Tudge had failed to review the scheme despite knowing of at least two cases in which family members regarded robodebt as a factor in a relative's suicide.
Mr Collins did not pay any of the money Centrelink claimed he owed and his debt was eventually wiped in 2021.
"I got a phone call from a lady saying that I'm calling you on behalf of the government to say that we have closed your case and you do not owe us any money and we apologise for the trauma that has caused you, and I just burst into tears on the phone and said this is a little too late."
He signed up for a successful class action against the government but did not receive a share of the settlement because he had not lost money.
Mr Collins, who works for Cessnock's palliative care service, agreed with the commission's recommendation to refer those responsible to the police and the new federal anti-corruption commission.
"I know this isn't about me. I'm just one of the large number of people that were traumatised by this but, you know, I've never had such a bad dealing with any government department in my life, and it's really taken away my trust of government," he said.
"I'm a law-abiding citizen. I've been a registered nurse all my life and I've trained recently to be involved with the COVID vaccination workforce.
"It's really taken away from my pride in Australia when I go overseas."
