Gordon Legal announcement of 24 September 2024:
Appeal of the Robodebt Class Action settlement – further compensationsought for Robodebt victims
The class action settlement commenced June 2021.
The Robodebt Royal Commission delivered its report in July 2023.
The Royal Commission uncovered new evidence that some of the senior public servants who ran Robodebt knew it was unlawful, but they went ahead anyway.
That evidence was not made available during the class action. The applicants in the class action did not know about this evidence prior to the class action being settled.
The Commonwealth did not hand over that information. In many cases, the Commonwealth claimed that the information was ‘privileged’. However, the Commonwealth could not rely on privilege claims when responding to the Royal Commission. This is how the new evidence came out.
The appeal will try to bring the new evidence before the Court, to make claims for further compensation.
The group members are trying to have the original settlement set aside, so that new claims can be brought. Those new claims include that the senior public servants who administered Robodebt engaged in ‘misfeasance in public office’.
These are serious allegations to make, but we strongly believe these claims should be made, based on the new evidence.
There are several complicated legal steps that will need be completed before that new evidence can be put before the Court.
If the Court allows the appeal, the class action will be reopened to hear these new claims.
It may take several months before there is an outcome. We will provide updates on our website as the appeal progresses.
If you are a group member in the class action, you don’t need to do anything further at this stage.
You can read more about the original settlement of the Robodebt Class Action below.
https://gordonlegal.com.au/robodebt-class-action/
Timeline
> 16 November 2020
The Commonwealth settles the Robodebt class action.
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> 11 June 2021
The settlement is approved by the Federal Court. The Court finds that the settlement is fair and reasonable, based on the available evidence.
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> 30 September 2022
Settlement payments are sent to eligible group members.
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> 7 July 2023
The Royal Commission releases its final report. The report is highly critical of Robodebt, including the conduct of several senior officials. The Royal Commission uncovers new evidence that was not handed over during the class action. These documents show that senior officials knew the Robodebt was unlawful.
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> 24 September 2024
The class action settlement is appealed, to make new claims of misfeasance in public office against the officials who knew that Robodebt was unlawful, but went ahead with it anyway. [my yellow highlighting]
and scrolling to bottom of the webpage to submit a request.
