The Robodebt Royal Commission

The following post explores the relative egregiousness of the robodebt scandal, the Royal Commission report’s structure and contents, and the earliest stage at which the capability of creating something like robodebt arose. It also considers automated decision-making and the extent to which the Commission omits to consider the actual technical workings of robodebt.

The post goes on to consider the problem of subject matter experts, as well as the problem of the ‘proof point’ solution for robodebt, both of which are not considered in the Commission’s report. Next, the post notes the way in which the Commission’s report does not take a strict or legalistic approach to the unlawfulness of robodebts — at least not beyond anything already said in the Federal Court of Australia.

Finally, the post briefly touches on the AAT firing scandals that the Report essentially omits. Despite all this, the article concludes with some compliments for what is obviously an exceptional output from this Royal Commission — one that chronicles an unprecedented Australian governance failure and recommends 57 ways it might be redressed.