Robodebt Royal Commissioner Catherine Holmes delivered a damning assessment of federal ministers and public servants in her final report released today.

She makes 57 recommendations to change public service and government processes, as well pleading for a shift in cultural attitudes towards welfare recipients.

There’s also a sealed section of the report that recommends referring some unnamed individuals for civil and criminal prosecution.

The scheme now known as ‘robodebt’ used income averaging to identify overpayments to welfare recipients, then pursued people for debts.

But, many of these debt notices turned out to be wrong, and many people didn’t owe any money at all.

Produced By: Amanda Copp

Featured In Story: Dr Darren O’Donovan – Senior Lecturer in Administrative Law at La Trobe Law School

First aired on The Wire, Friday 7 July 2023