Jenny Miller and Kath Madgwick, the mothers of Rhys Cauzzo and Jarrad Madgwick, who each took their own lives after receiving an illegal and inaccurate Robodebt notice, are in Canberra today to again call for accountability for Robodebt and an end to the targeting of welfare recipients by government.
To date, not a single Minister or public official has been held accountable for the scheme described as one of the worst failures of public administration in memory.
Madgwick and Miller will visit the Parliament to see their change.org petition with over 15,000 signatures tabled into the Parliament by the Greens spokesperson for Social Services, Senator Penny Allman-Payne, and will stand alongside Greens Senators to call for accountability and justice for Robodebt.
Targets of Robodebt and their families who had put their faith in the Robodebt Royal Commission, the NACC, and the government, have become frustrated by a lack of accountability for Robodebt and the continuation of unlawful punishment of welfare recipients.
In their call for accountability, Madgwick and Miller have called for NACC Commissioner Brereton to be dismissed from his position, for the sealed chapter of the Royal Commission to be released, and for the Robodebt Royal Commission to be fully implemented.
Labor have failed to implement key recommendations despite having previously agreed ‘in principle’ to all of the recommendations, including crucially:
- Reinstating the 6 year limit of recovery of debts
- Establishing a duty of care for the Department of Social Services that prioritises the needs of social security recipients while administering the law,
- Restricting the kinds of decisions which can be made or automated without human oversight
- Better protections for people experiencing hardship from receiving compliance notices.
During Senate Estimates earlier this year, Services Australia were revealed to still be chasing billions of dollars in decades-old welfare debts, dating as far back as 1979, and contrary to the Royal Commission.
A Private Members Bill to implement the outstanding recommendations has been introduced by Senator Allman-Payne in the Senate and crossbench MPs Andrew Wilkie and Helen Haines in the House.
In echoes of Robodebt, the Government continues with its punishing ‘mutual obligations’ regime, under which privatised job agencies have issued over 2 million payment suspensions to JobSeekers in the past year, despite damning advice the Targeted Compliance Framework which underpins the system may not be lawful.
An estimated 310,000 Centrelink recipients had their payments unlawfully cancelled under the mutual obligations system. In recent Estimates, neither the Minister nor public servants could defend the lawfulness of the system under which payment suspensions continue to this day with little oversight.
Extract from statement by Jenny Miller:
“We are yet to have the names released, we are yet to see justice and accountability for the gross misconduct of those in public office and as far as I’m concerned the NACC is eroding any semblance of public faith in the Australian Government.
Time has come, many 100000’s were affected by the Robodebt failure, yet here we are, still waiting.”
Extract from statement by Kath Madgwick:
“The conduct of the NACC is wholly unacceptable, and we demand transparency, accountability and justice for all of those impacted by Robodebt.
We also demand that all the Robedebt recommendations be adopted by the Department and that all programs delivered by the Government have a Duty of Care to the people they serve.
We are in 2025, not in the Dark Ages. The prolonging of the NACC’s investigations and the perceptions of conflicts of interest are further harming those who have been hurt enough.
We demand that Paul Brereton be dismissed from his position and that an independent Commissioner with no ties to the ADF be appointed to the position.
The above action is the only way for the Government to gain trust from the general public.”
Senator Penny Allman-Payne, Greens spokesperson for Social Services:
“How much longer do people like Jenny and Kath have to wait for justice from Robodebt?”
“It’s been years since the Robodebt Royal Commission yet virtually nobody has been held to account, and the changes needed to prevent more tragedies have been left to languish.”
“Robodebt was designed to punish, extort, and villainize innocent people with little to give. How sick that the actual villains, the rich and powerful figures that designed and operated Robodebt seem to be getting away with no consequences.”
“Not only have Labor failed to implement the recommendations from the Robodebt Royal Commission, they’ve built a toothless and shadowy NACC that hides corruption rather than exposing it, and they’re continuing to unlawfully take food off the tables of welfare recipients who have done nothing wrong.”
“Labor rightly talked a big game against Robodebt when Scott Morrison was in charge. But in government they’ve failed to deliver, and they’re still treating welfare recipients like criminals.”
“It’s past time Labor did the right thing and ended these crusades against poor people.”
Senator David Shoebridge, Greens spokesperson for Justice:
“The NACC was forced to investigate Robodebt. Fifteen months later there have been no public hearings, no updates, no accountability. This silence is destroying public trust.
“Robodebt victims deserve to see justice, not sit on the sidelines while the NACC does whatever it does in total secrecy.”
City of Newcastle has previously commissioned a number of works of art by First Nations artists including this mural created by local Aboriginal artist Jasmine Cracian for the Waratah Depot in 2019.Expressions of interest are currently open for Aboriginal persons or organisations with knowledge of the cultural significance of these sites.