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> Gordon said the most damning evidence was only made available to
lawyers through the final report of the Robodebt Royal Commission in
July 2023, almost two years after first class action settlement.
[ Sorry, too tied down right now to check whether any particular facets
of the case shed now light or are otherwose significant.
[ I think I heard an ABC News reporter say it was the largest settlement
in an Australian class action to date.
Govt settles second Robodebt class action for $475m
Major win for hundreds of thousands of victims.
Tom Williams
Info Age
Sep 04 2025 01:26 PM
https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2025/govt-settles-second-robodebt-class-action-for--475m.html
The federal government on Thursday agreed to pay a further $475 million
to victims of the Robodebt scandal, after deciding not to defend an
appeal brought by class action firm Gordon Legal.
The settlement, which now awaits approval by the federal court, will be
in addition to the $112 compensation payout agreed to in 2020 — taking
total compensation to $587 million.
The court can also now determine additional amounts for legal costs up
to $13.5 million and administration costs up to $60 million.
Across the two class actions, a possible total of more than $2.4 billion
had been won or refunded to victims, class action lawyers said.
Robodebt was an automated debt recovery program created by former
Liberal-National coalition governments and fully implemented in 2016,
which wrongfully accused some welfare recipients of owing the government
money.
The system incorrectly claimed almost $2 billion from around 450,000
people using income averaging techniques and data from Centrelink and
the Australian Taxation Office, which a Royal Commission found to be
illegal.
Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said settling the second class action
appeal was “the just and fair thing to do”.
“Today’s settlement demonstrates the Albanese Labor government’s ongoing
commitment to addressing the harms caused to hundreds of thousands of
vulnerable Australians by the former Liberal government’s disastrous
Robodebt scheme,” she said.
The government said members of the class action should make sure their
contact details are correct with Services Australia, ahead of
information about further payments being provided after the federal
court’s decision.
'A day of warning to governments and bureaucrats’
Gordon Legal representatives welcomed the government’s decision, telling
media the development was “a day of vindication and validation for
hundreds of thousands of Australians”.
Founder and senior partner Peter Gordon said it was also "a day of
warning to governments and bureaucrats at all levels, not to recklessly
and unlawfully attack the people who elected them, or who they were
hired to protect”.
Gordon said the most damning evidence was only made available to lawyers
through the final report of the Robodebt Royal Commission in July 2023,
almost two years after first class action settlement.
"More than 450,000 Australians have or will benefit from this
settlement," he said.
"It is, of course, far and away the largest class action settlement in
Australia's history.
“… While it is satisfying for lawyers to achieve a total result of $2.4
billion, it is frankly infuriating to know that our own commonwealth
government caused so much suffering to its own people — and it arose out
of willful misconduct.”
Government decision ‘bittersweet’, victim says
Class action member and Robodebt victim Felicity Button told Thursday’s
press conference that the government's decision was “bittersweet” given
"irreparable” damage to some victims and their families.
“People that have lost family members, people that have gone through
divorce, gone bankrupt, irreparable mental health issues that have
stemmed from this — we can never compensate for that," she said.
“But this is as just and as fair as it could have been, and ever would be.”
The Robodebt Royal Commission linked at least two deaths by suicide to
the scheme.
"For some, there are wounds that will never heal and we can never do
justice to those people, and the system can't," Gordon said.
"But what we do hope and feel is that people today feel that their
voices have been heard."
Australia’s national corruption watchdog announced in February that it
would investigate six individuals for their involvement in the Robodebt
scandal.
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Roger Clarke mailto:[email protected]
T: +61 2 6288 6916 http://www.xamax.com.au http://www.rogerclarke.com
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
Visiting Professorial Fellow UNSW Law & Justice
Visiting Professor in Computer Science Australian National University
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