Robodebt collections have resumed under the Labor government, which comes as a bit of a shock given the deserved outrage about the scheme.

No, not new cases of illegal ATO income averaging, but the government is pursuing people bullied into agreeing to make payments after being told appealing the Robodebt process would be hopeless.

I’ll come back to an example of zombie Robodebt, but first let’s remember that there were Robodebt winners among the many, many thousands of losers. It helps explain what happened.

The two obvious winners, at least until the royal commission findings are acted upon, were Scott Morrison and Kathryn Campbell.

Theirs was a case of two ambitious people both getting ahead by helping each other achieve desired ends and never mind the means.

How it began

According to the commission’s report, it was Ms Campbell who first brought the promise of billion-dollar-plus savings to Mr Morrison’s attention in December 30, 2014, at a meeting just a week after he became minister for social services.

That was the prize the eager beaver Mr Morrison wanted to take to Cabinet and the Expenditure Review Committee he had just joined, with what would become Robodebt the biggest ticket item Mr Morrison was impressing his colleagues with as he pursued the “leaners”.

It’s generally forgotten now that it was on Mr Morrison’s watch that the cashless welfare card trials were started and the pensioners’ assets test was (quite reasonably) tightened.

Social services minister Morrison was promising bottom-line bite that Joe Hockey as treasurer failed to deliver.

Fast transition

Less than nine months after becoming social services minister, Scott Morrison was appointed treasurer by Malcolm Turnbull.

And from treasurer, it was a short jump to Kirribilli House. The philosophy of Robodebt, the punching down of the “tough cop on the welfare beat”, had paid off very handsomely indeed.

It’s arguable that Robodebt made prime minister the man sacked from Tourism Australia, who departed his controversial New Zealand tourism job a year early, who had to be assisted most dubiously into preselection for the seat of Cook.

No wonder Mr Morrison continued to back Robodebt as treasurer and prime minister despite all the evidence against it, supporting it until it was finally legally destroyed in the courts, and even then being incapable of apologising or admitting wrong.

Meanwhile, Kathryn Campbell’s career flourished along with Mr Morrison’s.

When he was promoted to treasurer, Ms Campbell was promoted from secretary of the Department of Human Services to the secretary of Department of Social Services.

Even after Robodebt had been declared unlawful by the courts in 2020, Ms Campbell thrived.

She was given the plum job of secretary for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade by Mr Morrison in July 2021 – an extraordinary appointment, in my opinion, given her lack of diplomatic experience. I don’t know that the military reserve counts as diplomacy.

They were indeed winners.

Losing pattern

Meanwhile, the losers keep losing despite the court cases and the royal commission.

That the bureaucracy doesn’t give up a win, even when the entire process has been proven to be fraudulent, shouldn’t really be a surprise. After all, the fundamental ethos of misleading and covering up continues in the Albanese government.

Here’s an example of someone I know personally, let’s call her Cathy, who was on Youth Allowance from 2014 to 2017 while studying at university. Like many uni students, she worked full-time during some of the holiday periods.

How it works

In early 2018 she received a notice of a debt of more than $6000 with no explanation – just that there had been overpayments.

Cathy was fortunate to have a dogged mother – Maria – with the skills to take on the bureaucracy.

“Many phone calls later we received in the mail (Centrelink doesn’t/can’t/won’t email) a two-page chart itemising a four-month period of pay received and pay reported,” Maria tells me.

“For some of this time Cathy was working at X – doing the big hours so that she wouldn’t have to work during the next semester. It didn’t take long to realise that they had her at X working before she had even gone there, so we pointed out the errors.

“A couple of weeks later two more flimsy charts came back and some of the dates had been corrected. The debt was reduced to about $4000.

“We ensured during this time the debt process was on hold so she could process her tax return and not have it taken by Centrelink.

“We again questioned the rationale behind the debt given that she didn’t work during the rest of that financial year so therefore wasn’t the income supposed to be spread out over the year?

“Someone suggested a full AAT review. This took a couple of months and then we received a giant ring-binder of documents summarising her whole last two years of payments. There was a short covering letter saying she owed $3000 and our next step was to take it to the tribunal.

“This process had taken over a year from the first notice of debt. I said OK, let’s do that and a phone appointment was made with an AAT solicitor.”

‘You haven’t a hope’

“When that happened, he rang and said you haven’t a hope, no one wins, don’t waste your time. He was very convincing that Cathy should just cop it and start paying it off. We were exhausted by the process so we did just give in.”

It takes a lot to make Maria give in. Cathy began a repayment plan of $40 a week, but it was halted when the royal commission was called. She had repaid about $2000.

“Once the royal commission was over, she was sent a letter demanding the balance of approximately $900 to be repaid,” says Maria.

“Again, we tried to challenge this but the response – never in writing – was always ‘you agreed to this, so you have to continue to pay for it’.

“Again, we went to the AAT but they are not advocates for the people. They just want these matters out of the way. So she has paid it off again slowly.

“The impact on mental health and stress should never be underestimated. During the 2018-19 time, Cathy was constantly worried about the debt.

“The time and energy spent dealing with Centrelink is exhausting and frustrating. Every staff member has a slightly different take on things. Some try to be helpful, but their hands are tied.

“I do not know how people who are seriously marginalised deal with Centrelink. With two degrees and a fairly good understanding of basic accounting skills, we just managed.

“I was never scared of the process, which I am sure most people in this situation are very intimidated.”

Indeed they were, as the royal commission tragically heard.

And now, if the “winners” should incur legal fees as a result of the royal commission, the government will pick up the tab while still pursuing “losers”.