Services Australia has made significant strides repairing the damage caused by Robodebt.

In November 2023, the Government released its response to the Robodebt Royal Commission report. Services Australia was tasked with leading the implementation of 26 recommendations.

One year on, Services Australia has implemented 25 out of 26 recommendations, with 11 now with an independent body for final assurance. Just one is partially implemented, which is a large program of work to strengthen governance of data-matching programs Services Australia jointly led with the Australian Taxation Office.

Minister for Government Services and the National Disability Insurance Scheme the Hon Bill Shorten MP said the work in the wake of the Robodebt Royal Commission left its mark on almost every area of the agency.

“Robodebt wasn’t just about the debts, it was enabled by many broken systems, failed safeguards and a culture that ignored the feedback of staff and customers alike, Minister Shorten said.

“Moving on from the unlawful scheme was about improving transparency, accountability and engagement with customers, staff and advocates.

“It was also about delivering new approaches to debt, customer vulnerability, stakeholder engagement, program development, and staff feedback and culture.

“We didn’t wait for the Royal Commission report to start making changes, nor have actions been limited to the scope of the recommendations.

“Since I became Minister, the agency has embarked on a number of important programs and reforms, directly addressing the recommendations and going well beyond them in many cases, like cutting out the use of external debt collectors and securing record investment to put more humans back into frontline services.”

Services Australia has worked closely with a wide range of advocates and stakeholders.

“It’s been important to seek valuable insights offered by community organisations, advocacy groups, staff and customers,” Minister Shorten said.

“This engagement has already played an important part in the ongoing Centrepay reform, the codesign of the Parent Pathways program and the new Youpla Support Program.”

Improvements have been made from the inside out, starting with staff, so there is a safe environment for them to speak up and be heard when they see problems.

“The frontline staff at Services Australia are a fountain of wisdom, and that wisdom is being tapped,” Minister Shorten said.

“Frontline staff are being consulted on new programs, and their knowledge is being fed into new staff training and development. This includes initiatives exposing senior leaders to frontline services and operations.

“The green shoots are the result of a lot of hard work and commitment from the dedicated staff. I commend them for what they’ve achieved so far.

“There’s still a way to go make services the best they can be for Australians. However, I can confidently say I will be handing over the Government Services portfolio in far better shape than I received it.

“Humans are back at the centre of our human services.”

Background - Progress on Robodebt Royal Commission recommendations

Services Australia grouped recommendations into themes: 

• Debt policy (recommendation 18.1)
• Vulnerability (11.1, 11.2, 11.3, 11.4, 13.3 & 13.4)
• Service delivery (10.1, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3 & 23.3)
• People and culture (13.1, 13.2, 23.5 & 23.6)
• Administration (15.5, 15.6, 16.1, 19.1, 19.2, 19.6, 19.13, 20.1 & 20.2) and data governance (16.2).

The agency has engaged external independent assurance to oversee the implementation of the Royal Commission response.

Debt policy

• A new debt management program has been developed to provide clear, transparent principles and guidelines for debt management practices. The program will be reviewed yearly from now on
• The use of external debt collection agencies ended in April 2023. Individual circumstances are now taken into account, including people’s capacity to repay.
• Changes to myGov give people the option to self-manage repayment arrangements. During a disaster or crisis, people also have the option to self-pause their repayment arrangements.
• Payment accuracy improvements are helping people get the payments they are entitled to and prevent them from getting a debt in the first place. 

Vulnerability

• The agency’s vulnerability strategy has been refreshed and will be replaced in 2025 with a contemporary and streamlined commitment.
• An Advocates Channel program has given community legal advocates a secure and streamlined channel through to Services Australia to support those who are considered most vulnerable.
• A Community Partnership Pilot co-locates Services Australia staff with selected non-government organisations. After a successful pilot, the program is in the process of being expanded with up to 9 additional partnerships being finalised.
• The agency has employed an additional 130 ongoing social workers to better support people who may be experiencing vulnerability.

Service delivery

• The agency has implemented recommendations related to understanding the needs of customers in the design and the development of policies and services.
• Services Australia continues to maintain four peak advisory groups, with regular ongoing meetings to provide opportunities for input and consultation.
• Separate to the recommendations, the additional 3000 service delivery staff who came on board at the start of 2024 have had a considerable impact on improving claims processing and wait times.
• Online appointments were also deployed nationally in June 2024. This provides opportunity for customers to book a 15 minute phone or 30 minute face-to-face appointment. 

People and culture

• The SES Immersion program provides Senior Executive staff with a deeper understanding and experience of first-hand customer interactions on the frontline. 33 per cent of SES have now participated since its implementation in May 2024.
• In 2022, Services Australia formed the Services Australia Learning Academy. The Learning Academy is a networked model of learning faculties and specialist enterprise learning teams, working in partnership to drive connected, professional and consistent learning practice across the agency.
• Services Australia has provided training to in-house lawyers on core duties and obligations of government lawyers as well as a dedicated mandatory training package for all legal staff on Legal Ethics.

Administration and data governance

• Services Australia has made a number of changes to the way it manages data, including documentation and governance of data exchanges.
• This includes a new Chief Data Officer – a centralised role for data governance, reporting, analysis and data science for Services Australia.
• Services Australia has worked with the Australian Taxation Office to strengthened operational data governance practices relating to the way it shares and uses data by establishing a data matching program protocol service offer and the development of a data exchange governance map. Greater collaboration has made data governance practices more transparent and strengthened governance of data sharing between the agencies.