Andrew Wilkie, in introducing the bill says:

I was among the first to raise the alarm with the media, with the ombudsman and with the government.

But while the media was slow to pick it up, and the then government didn’t want to hear it, my office continued to hear countless shocking stories from my electorate in Tasmania and indeed right across the country.

In one memorable case, a person presented to my office so distressed that they curled up into a ball on the floor in my waiting room and broke down in tears having a panic attack.

Of course, all now agree that Robodebt was a shameful chapter in Australia’s history. Well, maybe not all, seeing as many members of the former LNP government don’t seem to have any or many regrets about the whole sorry saga. It’s also now better understood that while the core of the scheme was found to be unlawful, many legitimate aspects of social security legislation did also encourage the situation to arise and supported it continuing unexamined for so long now, one of the core of the Royal commission’s findings was the simple fact that government services need to return to providing Australians access to an effective income support system and to ensure that they are treated with respect and dignity when they do so.

So that’s what this bill aims to do; to improve and expand the principles and duties contained in Social Security law in line with the Royal Commission recommendation relating to the effects of Robodebt on individuals, and make other changes to the Social Security law to align with recommendations on compliance activities and vulnerability automated decision making and debt recovery and collection practices in particular.