Jarrad Madgwick loved his mum fiercely and he didn't care who saw him show it.
Since he was born, it had always been just Jarrad and his single mother Kathleen Madgwick, taking on the world together.
"The best thing about Jarrad was he was very unique in his closeness, we were very close," Ms Madgwick told the royal commission into the illegal Robodebt scheme on its final day of hearings.
"He'd escort me to Christmas parties at work … business dinners. People would always compliment me on his manners, and he would put his arm around me with no shame, he displayed his love for me quite openly."
But in 2019, just weeks before his 23rd birthday, Jarrad took his own life.
He had learned of a $2,000 Centrelink Robodebt in the hours before his death.
Since her son's passing, Ms Madgwick has made it her mission to find out exactly what happened in the lead-up to the 22-year-old's passing.
She advocated for him to get information from the Department of Human Services (DHS) to ensure it never happened again.
"I'm still his mother even though he's not here," Ms Madgwick said.
About one year before he died, Jarrad had left his job after being bullied at work.
He'd became homeless and had no income after battling with Centrelink to receive welfare payments after he accidentally uploaded the wrong document on his application.
He had a brief history of mental illness years earlier, but things became more difficult for Jarrad after he moved home to the Sunshine Coast, in part due to his dealings with Centrelink, the inquiry heard.
Letter to Scott Morrison went unanswered
After sitting through much of the nine weeks of public hearings, Ms Madgwick said she had finally been able to piece together what had been going on behind the scenes prior to her son's death – including that he never spoke to an actual person about his debt and was only notified online.
She recounted to the inquiry how her son walked out of his bedroom and told her: "I'm not going to get paid [Newstart Allowance] because I owe them [Centrelink] $2,000".
"He was very distressed," Ms Madgwick recalled.
"It was hard for me to settle him down and after that, things progressed."
Jarrad left the house that same night and didn't come back, the inquiry heard.
Ms Madgwick said after Jarrad's death she wrote to then prime minister Scott Morrison in an effort to try and get some answers but received no response.
"Not even a sorry for your loss," she told the royal commission.
'I needed somebody to hear me'
Ms Madgwick described her state of mind after her son's death to the inquiry in Brisbane.
"I was blaming myself [thinking] that I was a bad mother because of the argument [we had that day] and I think it was my brother who said: 'What do you mean? What happened that day was different, you and Jarrad have had many arguments, this is not the reason that he's taken his life'."
The commission heard Jarrad was a talented writer, earning a scholarship to a university on the Gold Coast.
"If he applied himself to something he'd do really well at it," his mum said.
"He was very good at swimming and rugby … he was captain of the school in primary school."
Ms Madgwick said stopping the same injustice happening to anyone else had motivated her to seek answers.
"I always believed he [Jarrad] was meant to be here and he was going to make the world a better place," she said, adding she'd told a journalist her story because no-one was listening.
"I believed that I needed somebody to hear me."
End of inquiry allows space to grieve
Ms Madgwick said after following evidence given to the royal commission she had concluded there was a "lack of duty of care" in relation to Robodebt.
"It hasn't made real sense to me … the staff that had to work in that environment and also the customers … it's caused a lot of damage and they had to realise the impact," she said.
Ms Madgwick earlier said she spoke out "so that it didn't happen to anyone else".
"But, you know, my love for him and the pursuit of truth in what happened and [to] be able to put my mind to rest has been very important to me," she said from the stand.
Ms Madgwick told the royal commission she was thankful the inquiry had been held.
"I feel I'll be able to finally get on and grieve for my son, without all this confusion in my mind," she said.
Ms Madgwick ended her evidence to the royal commission by quoting her son's final post to social media before his death.
He wrote: "Free will is an illusion that inhibits us from correcting the system. Instead … punishing people that are products of the environment."
"I feel that sums up exactly what's been uncovered here," Ms Madgwick said.
Robodebt was an automated debt recovery program that ran from 2015 to 2019. It unlawfully claimed almost $2 billion from more than 400,000 people.
The royal commission has heard legal advice was available to many people over many years, which flagged the scheme was not lawful.
Vulnerable people found it 'difficult to identify a way forward'
Former Centrelink social worker Taren Preston also took the stand earlier on Friday to give evidence about the pressure placed on those trying to help debt victims.
Ms Preston said she did not feel her role as a social worker was respected once Robodebt was rolled out, whereas before the illegal scheme, she had worked closely with Centrelink compliance officers.
She told the inquiry her concerns about vulnerable people receiving debts, that would usually be waived due to extenuating circumstances, were often met with the mantra: "Too bad, so sad."
Ms Preston told the royal commission during one difficult day at work, she had 10 people at risk of suicide who had received unlawful debts.
"My impression was that there was a level of unfairness they were being presented with," she said about the scheme.
"There wasn't a way to navigate through it. Centrelink, DHS [the Department of Human Services] is an exceptionally big system and when you're fighting against it, it can be very overwhelming."
Ms Preston said because many people could not find the documents being required to "disprove" their debts, vulnerable people found it "really difficult to identify a way forward".
"For me, what I observed, is it felt like it looked crushing," she said.
Ms Preston, who worked as a manager of other social workers, said many staff were coming to work crying and suffering from anxiety.
She said she eventually left the job she initially saw as a vocation after advice from her doctor, who told her she was developing an adjustment disorder due to the difficult work.
"I was being asked to do work that was hurting people and my experience was that we were being asked to participate in that system that was hurting people," Ms Preston told the inquiry.
The public hearings will close on Friday.
