A STATEMENT ON NACC ROBODEBT FINDINGS - Andrew Wilkie

The National Anti-Corruption Commission has today found that two of the individuals referred to it by the Robodebt Royal Commission engaged in serious corrupt conduct. It also cleared former Prime Minister Scott Morrison of the same.

For the people and families who received threatening letters, faced aggressive debt recovery action, or spent years trying to prove they owed nothing, this NACC finding is a rare moment of accountability. However, it will be difficult for many to square the NACC’s findings, and lack of criminal referrals, with the harms inflicted.

It was pensioners, students, and jobseekers spending nights in fear, trying to prove their innocence against a system that assumed guilt. For thousands of Australians, the emotional toll was profound. People felt shame, anxiety, and isolation. Some were pushed into financial hardship while trying to repay debts that should never have existed. Some suicided.

Australians deserve a public service and a political system that protects the vulnerable, not one that harms them. And while the NACC considers the Royal Commission recommendations to be sufficient to prevent a repeat of such tragic misgovernance, to the Government’s shame many recommendations are still yet to be enacted.