Robodebt: five years of lies, mistakes and failures that caused a $1.8bn scandal

Robodebt royal commissioner Catherine Holmes will report later this year on how the disastrous scheme began, and why no one stopped it. Illustration: Nash Weerasekera/The Guardian

Stuart Robert stepped up at a press conference in Sydney at 1.39pm on 19 November 2019 with a clear idea of what he didn’t want to say.

Robert was announcing what he called a “refinement” to Centrelink’s income compliance program – known to most people by then as robodebt.