‘Cease and desist’: SBS unleashes landmark docu-drama The People vs Robodebt

MR GREGGERY: You identified that you spoke with Tyson Fawcett in the course of preparing your statement and we can see that he is identified as either a - it seems a trustee lieutenant at the top of the page and one of the key stakeholders? 35 MR HIRSCHHORN: Yes. Counsel, may I just clarify my discussion with Mr Fawcett?

Transcript hearing day 6 - 3 Nov 2022 (royalcommission.gov.au)

"If we're not careful and if there isn't a paradigm shift … we could see it [robodebt] happening again."

~ Scott Hamilton

Courage and tenacity: The story of everyday Australians versus “crude and cruel” robodebt scheme

ATO director Tyson Fawcett threatened to 'cease and desist' robodebt data before backing down

All episodes of 'The People vs. Robodebt' are now available to stream via SBS On Demand

 SBS unleashes landmark docu-drama The People vs Robodebt

‘Cease and desist’: ATO warned about Robodebt data Told the department to stop using tax info

Robodebt Scheme

Tyson Fawcett was an Australian Taxation Office (ATO) director who, on 7th July 2017, wrote an email to the Department of Human Services (DHS) demanding they "cease and desist" using ATO data for the automated Robodebt scheme until proper assurances about its use were provided. This strongly worded email, brought to light during the Robodebt Royal Commission, showed the ATO's early frustration with how the data was being used to illegally recover welfare debts from hundreds of thousands of Australians.  

Key details about Tyson Fawcett's involvement:

• The Email: 

  Fawcett sent an email to a DHS officer requesting an "urgent discussion" about how ATO data was being used for the robodebt scheme and asked the department to "cease and desist" the use of the data until they received assurance. 
• Context: 

  The email followed a meeting and was prompted by Fawcett's concerns about the legality of using ATO income data to average income for the purpose of identifying welfare debts. 
• ATO's Position: 

  The email indicated early internal friction within the ATO regarding the scheme's data usage and its subsequent legality. 
• The Royal Commission: 

  Fawcett later provided evidence to the Robodebt Royal Commission, which investigated the scheme's design and impact, confirming his efforts to halt the data usage. 

In summary, Tyson Fawcett's email was a significant early warning from the ATO, expressing concern over the legality and process of the robodebt scheme before it became a widespread scandal.

Tax officials who raised concerns 

about robodebt were ‘fobbed off’, 

inquiry hears 

Royal commission also hears ATO stonewalled 

the media despite misgivings that data it 

provided for robodebt was not ethical

The people who helped expose the Coalition’s ‘crude and cruel’ robodebt scheme

New documentary The People vs Robodebt tells the story of how a disastrous automated Centrelink debt recovery scheme was brought down - Christopher Knaus

The people who helped expose the Coalition’s ‘crude and cruel’ robodebt scheme

“It is not FOI that inhibits frank & fearless advice; far more important is the fact that unwelcome advice can attract career penalties & welcome advice can attract career rewards. Look at Robodebt again.”

The Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme has concluded. Commissioner Catherine Holmes AC SC presented the Report of the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme to the Governor-General, His Excellency, General the Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Retd) on 7 July 2023. It was tabled on 7 July 2023

Robodebt victims to get further $475 million compensation after class action settled

Robodebt Kafka with Morton - Charles Schulz on Being a Good Citizen

I am always trying to convey something that can’t be conveyed, to explain something which is inexplicable, to tell about something I have in my bones, something which can be expressed only in the bones.

~ Franz Kafka, Letters to Milena

The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) has appointed Mr Geoffrey Nettle AC KC to independently reconsider its decision relating to the referrals made to the NACC by the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme

Mean Streak - NACC, Kafka and Orwell: Robodebt book on public service foul play a dance with the truth

‘Not a closed chapter’: The legacy of Robodebt scandal still lingers five years after illegal scheme was axed

Australia's FOI system is broken, but proposed reforms miss the mark

Robodebt pushed victims to the brink, and some did not live to see justice