‘Grossly disappointing’: robodebt victim’s despair
A victim of the illegal scheme says the decision not to press charges against corrupt officials involved in the direct debit scheme is “hugely disappointing”.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission investigation on Wednesday found that two of the six men had been referred to it for investigation into corruption but denied facing criminal charges.
The remaining four, including former prime minister Scott Morrison, who launched the scheme when he was social services minister, were cleared of corruption.
The result came as no surprise to Melbourne mother Felicity de Somerville, who had $11,500 withdrawn from her bank account by Centrelink without warning under the scheme in 2017.
“Extremely disappointing but not surprising,” he said when asked by the AAP what he made of the decision not to press charges.
“I don’t think any Australian should be surprised that they won’t take responsibility for this and won’t get anyone in trouble, because that’s the culture we’ve been brought up in.”
The former nurse had just finished maternity leave when she realized the equivalent of six months’ salary had been deducted from her account overnight, despite agreeing on a payment plan.
This left her unable to afford medical care for her daughter, who was unwell at the time and caused great distress for her and her husband, a welder earning $45,000 a year at the time.
“It was truly awful but I consider myself lucky compared to what some others have gone through,” Ms de Somerville said.
The watchdog found former business integrity ministry director general Mark Withnell engaged in corrupt conduct by deliberately misleading the Department of Social Services during the preparation of his cabinet presentation in 2015.
It also found that the department’s deputy secretary, Serena Wilson, had engaged in corrupt conduct by misleading the Commonwealth Ombudsman during an investigation in 2017.
But the watchdog said the findings would not be sent to the Commonwealth Department of Public Prosecutions for consideration of criminal charges.
“There was insufficient admissible evidence to establish beyond a reasonable doubt the alleged offenses against Mr. Withnell or Ms. Wilson,” the report said.
“The significant admissions and statements made during this investigation are inadmissible in criminal proceedings.”
It was revealed that Mr Morrison was not corrupt.
The failure to recognize that bureaucratic recommendations were misleading was attributed to shortcomings on the part of federal departments.
He welcomed the findings in a lengthy statement on Wednesday, sympathizing with those affected by the plan and insisting department officials were to blame.
“NACC has rightly concluded that ministers should be able to rely on the accuracy of advice provided by their departments, particularly on matters of technical expertise, and should be able to take that advice in good faith,” he said.
“It is a matter for ministers whether they follow that advice or not. In this case, I trusted that advice and followed it.”
“The ministerial advice and assurances given to ministers were wrong.”
The corruption watchdog did not make recommendations in its final report, which followed the royal commission’s guidance on the robodebt scheme.
Between 2016 and 2019, the former coalition government’s robo-debt scheme saved more than $750 million from nearly 400,000 people.
Many welfare recipients were falsely accused of being indebted to the government, and the program was linked to many suicides.
The Albanian government has promised to release a sealed portion of the robodebt royal commission’s final report once the investigation is over.
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