A Queensland mother whose son took his own life just hours after learning he owed a Centrelink debt says she hopes the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme will bring about justice and accountability for victims.
"We need to know who is responsible for this and people need to be held accountable," Kath Madgwick said before the first hearing of the royal commission got underway in Brisbane.
Her son, Jarrad Madgwick, was suffering mental health issues when he discovered he owed a debt of just under $2,000.
He was applying for Centrelink after losing his job when he received the debt.
"It was wrong, it should never have occurred, and a machine shouldn't be dealing with vulnerable people," Ms Madgwick said.
Robodebt is the name given to the automated debt recovery program from 2015 to 2019, which unlawfully claimed almost $2 billion from more than 400,000 people.
Commissioner Catherine Holmes called for those willing to share their experience of the Robodebt scheme to make a submission to reveal the "human impact" of what occurred.
"This was a difficult stressful time in the lives of thousands of people who were told they had debts to pay," she said.
Commission to focus on 'those in senior positions'
Commissioner Holmes told the inquiry it will focus on those in senior positions who had oversight of the unlawful automated program.
"A good deal is known about how the Robodebt scheme operated, but not much has been revealed about why, about what advice or consultation or reasoning or response to criticism was occurring behind the scenes at any stage," Commissioner Holmes said.
"The focus, appropriately and in accordance with the terms of reference, will be on those in senior positions who had or should have had oversight of it," she said.
Former ministers including Scott Morrison, Alan Tudge and Stuart Robert are expected to be called as witnesses.
Commissioner Holmes said the premise of the scheme was "unsound" as it treated average earnings as actual earnings.
"That notion of averaging was not new.
"What changed with the implementation of the Robodebt scheme in 2016 was that the Department of Human Services began the use of an automated process to demand information of current and former recipients on a scale not previously attempted," she said.
Mr Greggery KC told the hearing the "first form of the Robodebt scheme" appeared in an executive minute from the Department of Human Services to the minister for social services in February 2015 which has not been made public.
"That executive minute must have been produced after some planning."
The Commission heard the Administrative Appeals Tribunal had already declared the scheme invalid in the years before the Federal Court ruled it unlawful in 2019.
Counsel assisting, Justin Greggery KC, said complaints emerged just months after the scheme started.
"In the face of public questions about the process, ministers and those in senior roles in the Australian public service asserted that the system worked well," said Mr Greggery KC.
"There was a number of flaws in the system which if not actually known at the commencement, were publicly identified soon after the implementation of the scheme," he said.
Public hearings with be held in Brisbane, starting October 31, with some witnesses allowed to give evidence via video link.
Online submissions are open until February 3 2023 with a final report due by April 18 2023.
