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Gordon Legal spills on Centrelink class action
Gordon Legal has shed light on its recently announced class action, which will focus on the federal government’s so-called robodebt scheme.
Emma Musgrave
Source: gordonlegal.com.au/people/peter-gordon/
Last week, Gordon Legal, alongside opposition government services spokesman Bill Shotern, declared a class action will be launched on behalf of people “who have had their legitimate Centrelink benefits illegally clawed back by the federal government through its robodebt scheme”.
“The money for pensioners, carers, widows, students, farmers and unemployed people was taken from them due to a one-size-fits-all online compliance system.
“The robodebt scheme has been in place since mid-2016, its legality was first raised with us by the new shadow minister for government services, Bill Shorten. The basis for the challenge is that that the federal government financially benefited when it wrongfully took and banked money that legitimately belonged to recipients.”
Commenting further, Gordon Legal senior partner Peter Gordon said investigations reveal between two to three hundred million dollars have been wrongly taken from people.
“Making it even worse was many were hit with penalties of 10 per cent on those amounts,” Mr Gordon said.
“These people are the least able groups to afford the heavy-handed actions which are based on a system that used ATO averages that didn’t take into account individual circumstances.
“The unfair and incorrect assumptions had a devastating financial impact on people’s lives. The emotional distress for people who have done nothing wrong has been high. The robodebt system put debt collectors onto innocent people to chase unlawful debts.”
Mr Gordon noted the amounts owed will vary on a case-by-case basis, however the average repayments could be a few thousand dollars which, he said, is “vital from a financial and wellbeing perspective for these people who are least able to afford it”.
“The people in this class action were not gaming the system. They had honest claims to payments and allowances that robodebt wrongly assessed, penalised and pursued with harsh consequences,” Mr Gordon added.
“If you have been unfairly affected by robodebt, you should register your details on the Gordon Legal website and we will be in touch.”
Emma Musgrave
Emma Musgrave (née Ryan) is the managing editor, professional services at Momentum Media.
Emma has worked for Momentum Media since 2015, including five years spent as the editor of the company's legal brand - Lawyers Weekly. Throughout her time at Momentum, she has been responsible for breaking some of the biggest stories in corporate Australia. In addition, she has produced exclusive multimedia and event content related to the company's respective brands and audiences.
Prior to joining Momentum Media, Emma worked in breakfast radio, delivering news to the Central West region of NSW, before taking on a radio journalist role at Southern Cross Austereo, based in Townsville, North Queensland.
She holds a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) degree from Charles Sturt University.
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