Legislation Changes for Senior Public Servants to Face Accountability for Robodebt

The government is introducing legislation which will empower the Australian Public Service Commissioner to investigate former agency heads.

A copy of the Report of the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme is seen at Parliament House in Canberra, July 7, 2023. AAP Image/Lukas Coch

The Albanese government is scrambling to change the law so that someone is held accountable for the Robodebt scheme ran between 2015 and 2019.

The scheme saw the government unlawfully raise $1.76 billion (US$1.17 billion) in debts against 443,000 people. Several suicides were attributed to the stress caused by the receipt of demands to pay.