Latest news with #AndrewGrech
Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Echoes of robo-debt: Lawyer warns Labor after hundreds illegally denied payments
A major law firm is warning the Albanese government it risks court action after a damning finding that hundreds of people were illegally denied income support and dozens more had payments cancelled even after the problem was noticed. The Commonwealth Ombudsman revealed last week that 964 people had their JobSeeker payments unlawfully terminated by an automated system, and even when the problem was noticed and seemingly rectified, a further 45 people had their payments cancelled. Gordon Legal partner Andrew Grech, who led a class action for victims of the robo-debt payment scandal – in which people had their earnings incorrectly calculated, leading to erroneous debt letters being sent – said there was an eerie familiarity between the two government payment problems. Warnings of court action over welfare payments will test Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on his first-term promise to protect vulnerable people and his criticism of the former Coalition government's handling of the robo-debt crisis. The investigation found cancellations were made through a digital system called the targeted compliance framework, designed to monitor if recipients were meeting the conditions of their welfare payments. This includes the requirement to search for work or report changes in income. This was contrary to law changes in 2022 after the robo-debt crisis, requiring consideration of a jobseeker's circumstances before deciding to cancel income support. 'The ombudsman report is deeply troubling and, like the much larger robo-debt scandal, it's another example of how government creep of deployment of automation influences the lives of our most vulnerable – it plays an inappropriate role,' Grech said. 'The government should move swiftly to address what's really mass-scale unlawful termination of payments.' Secretary of the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations Natalie James advised the ombudsman in December 2024 that decisions to cancel income support occurred automatically, affecting 964 jobseekers from April 2022 to July 2024.
The Age
2 days ago
- Business
- The Age
Echoes of robo-debt: Lawyer warns Labor after hundreds illegally denied payments
A major law firm is warning the Albanese government it risks court action after a damning finding that hundreds of people were illegally denied income support and dozens more had payments cancelled even after the problem was noticed. The Commonwealth Ombudsman revealed last week that 964 people had their JobSeeker payments unlawfully terminated by an automated system, and even when the problem was noticed and seemingly rectified, a further 45 people had their payments cancelled. Gordon Legal partner Andrew Grech, who led a class action for victims of the robo-debt payment scandal – in which people had their earnings incorrectly calculated, leading to erroneous debt letters being sent – said there was an eerie familiarity between the two government payment problems. Warnings of court action over welfare payments will test Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on his first-term promise to protect vulnerable people and his criticism of the former Coalition government's handling of the robo-debt crisis. The investigation found cancellations were made through a digital system called the targeted compliance framework, designed to monitor if recipients were meeting the conditions of their welfare payments. This includes the requirement to search for work or report changes in income. This was contrary to law changes in 2022 after the robo-debt crisis, requiring consideration of a jobseeker's circumstances before deciding to cancel income support. 'The ombudsman report is deeply troubling and, like the much larger robo-debt scandal, it's another example of how government creep of deployment of automation influences the lives of our most vulnerable – it plays an inappropriate role,' Grech said. 'The government should move swiftly to address what's really mass-scale unlawful termination of payments.' Secretary of the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations Natalie James advised the ombudsman in December 2024 that decisions to cancel income support occurred automatically, affecting 964 jobseekers from April 2022 to July 2024.
