Federal Corruption Watchdog to Investigate Former government's Robodebt Scheme
The National Anti-Corruption Commission will investigate six individuals linked to the former government's robodebt scheme after reversing a prior decision not to proceed.
The federal corruption watchdog will investigate six people responsible for the former government's illegal debt collection scheme, reversing a previous decision.
Following a review process, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) revealed on Tuesday it will probe whether any of the six officials referred in the robodebt royal commission's final report engaged in corrupt conduct.
This overturns the commission's controversial decision from June not to investigate the referrals.
The watchdog did not disclose reasons for initiating the investigation, noting that doing so could prejudice the process.
However, in October, the NACC Inspector Gail Furness found the commission's head, Paul Brereton, engaged in misconduct due to his ties with one of the six individuals in question, as he failed to adequately recuse himself from the watchdog's decision.
Mr Brereton and the other deputy commissioners involved in the original decision will not participate in the investigation.
Between 2016 and 2019, the former coalition government's robodebt scheme recovered more than $750 million from almost 400,000 individuals.
Many welfare recipients were falsely accused of owing money to the government, and the program was linked to several suicides.
