The Latest Breaking News from Malisa Golightly

Seven public servants criticised in robodebt report as agencies consider response

Royal commissioner Catherine Holmes found that bureaucrats misled cabinet and ombudsman

The Guardian - AU · Jul 9, 2023

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

The royal commission ended on Friday, having heard shocking testimony from officials and politicians, and heart-rending accounts of the impact of the botched scheme

The Guardian - AU · Mar 10, 2023

Department of Human Services bureaucrat ordered Robodebt letter system be switched off, royal commission hears

Former director at the Department of Human Services Tenille Collins says she had concerns with the Robodebt scheme's practice of sending welfare recipients a debt if they did not respond to a letter from Centrelink after 21 days.

ABC News · Mar 3, 2023

Inaccuracy of robodebt scheme ‘known issue’ but was ‘only way’ to do more reviews, commission told

Former top lawyer for the Department of Human Services said she relied on another department’s position that income averaging scheme was lawful

The Guardian - AU · Jan 30, 2023

Senior DHS official ‘very angry’ when colleague suggested robodebt needed ‘major response’, inquiry told

Compliance manager tells royal commission she was ‘unable to influence’ boss away from ‘deliver the numbers’ direction

The Guardian - AU · Dec 15, 2022

Boss 'very angry' after manager suggested declaring 'major response' into Robodebt, royal commission told

A former compliance manager tells the Robodebt royal commission her suggestion to declare a major response into Robodebt made her boss "very angry".

ABC News · Dec 15, 2022

Former social services official told to ‘tone down’ robodebt legal concerns, inquiry hears

Andrew Whitecross says he fiercely criticised the proposal and questioned its legality in the scheme’s initial plan

The Guardian - AU · Dec 8, 2022

Bureaucrat told to 'tone down' Robodebt criticism, royal commission hears

Andrew Whitecross, then an employee at the Department of Human Services, agrees the policy which became Robodebt was a "radical departure" from compliance at the time.

ABC News · Dec 8, 2022

Draft Robodebt proposal to Scott Morrison was a 'watering down' of legal advice

Emails between Department of Human Services and Department of Social Services officials showed the language around the Robodebt scheme had been softened.

The Canberra Times · Dec 8, 2022

Conspiracy or stuff up? Robodebt royal commission probes how far up the chain of command blame falls

The first two weeks of hearings into the unlawful welfare scheme sought to answer a central question: how could this happen?

The Guardian - AU · Nov 11, 2022