The woman who was slapped with an unlawful $2,500 Centrelink debt notice by the Australian government’s automated debt system known as Robodebt has come forward with her experience.
Deanna Amato challenged the debt in court in June 2019.
It was later revealed that the debt program identified welfare recipients as having debts based on income averaging. The process was ruled unlawful.
The program, which unlawfully raised almost A$1.73 billion (US$1.18 billion) in debts against 433,000 welfare recipients, was described by Justice Brendan Murphy as a “shameful chapter” in Australia’s social security scheme.
The former Coalition government agreed to settle the case with $1.2 billion in 2020, and the program was abolished in May 2020….