Centrelink got called after a big bust from Natalie Barr

Sunrise presenter Nat Barr has opened fire on the former government of Scott Morrison over her ‘illegitimate’ Robodebt scheme that has destroyed the lives of countless Australians.

A ‘scathing’ report on the program spearheaded by Mr Morrison in his role as social services minister will be handed over on Friday.

Queensland Chief Justice Catherine Holmes will deliver her findings after interviewing more than 100 witnesses and examining thousands of documents.

Barr called the program “mathematically flawed” and asked Senator Bridget McKenzie how to deal with those responsible.

“It was declared illegal. There were 500,000 casualties. People ended their lives. Bridget, you need to have an idea of ​​what needs to be done,” she said.

“It’s pretty obvious that people have acted wrong here.”

Senator McKenzie told Barr that, in her experience, “it doesn’t pay politicians to comment on the royal commission’s findings until they’ve seen the results.”

“I think the findings will be very profound and will, I hope, give us ways to make sure this can’t happen again,” she said.

Education Minister Jason Clare said his thoughts were with Jennifer Miller, who lost her son Rhys, 27, to suicide after being chased for $17,000 he didn’t owe.

‘I think of her and I think of families like that today, before we even get to the report,’ said Mr Clare.

“There were some people who committed suicide, others who tried to take their own lives, ended up in hospital, they are still on medication.”

“Let’s not forget the real human tragedy here, people like Jennifer Miller who are still dealing with the loss of their son.”

Ms Miller told the committee she had traveled to her son’s home after his death only to discover he was being pursued by debt collection agency Dunn & Bradstreet.

She said she found five of the debt notes on her son’s refrigerator and a drawing of Rhys’s face with a gun, dollar signs around it and the caption “debt life.”

Who was responsible and whether they knowingly carried out an illegal scheme will be detailed in the Robodebt Royal Commission report due to be released on Friday.

The inquiry, led by former Queensland Chief Justice Catherine Holmes, was launched in August 2022 – three months after the Labor government was elected.

His role was to look at the establishment, design and implementation of the scheme, its results and the use of external collection agencies.

The former Department of Human Services launched a plan in mid-2015 to “detect, investigate, and deter suspected welfare fraud and non-compliance,” in an effort to save billions of dollars from the federal budget.

The scheme — which became known as robodebt — issued debt securities to people identified through a process called income averaging, which compared their reported income to IRS records.

When a slew of coalition government ministers and senior officials took charge of the robo-debt, more than $750 million was wrongfully recovered from 381,000 people.

Victims told the royal commission of their trauma and fear as they received messages and contacted collection agencies.

The inquiry also heard evidence from bureaucrats who ignored serious questions and advice about the legality of the scheme.

The scheme was ruled illegal by the Federal Court in 2019 after Robodebt victim Madeleine Masterton challenged her guilt.

In 2020, a $1.2 billion settlement was reached between robodebt victims and the former government.

Former Prime Ministers Scott Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull testified at the inquiry, along with ex-ministers Alan Tudge, Christian Porter and Stuart Robert.

Last October, nearly 200,000 people paid off their social assistance debt.

Secretary of Government Services Bill Shorten described the scheme as the “biggest failure of social security public administration.”

Mr. Morrison will be in Italy on holiday with family while the report is handed over.

The former prime minister is now touring Europe after appearing at a series of meetings on the UK’s AUKUS submarine deal at the end of June.

“Following his official visit to the UK, Mr Morrison will spend some time with his family, who will accompany him to the UK, on ​​a private holiday abroad, during parliamentary recess and school holidays,” his office said in a statement. declaration. a statement prior to the trip.

Mr Morrison testified before the committee, where he argued that he was never advised of the illegal nature of the scheme.

He said he would not have proceeded had he known about legal issues.

Grieving mother whose son, 22, committed suicide after discovering a $2,000 Robodebt, publishes heartbreaking audio of his last call with social services

By Zoe Zaczek for Daily Mail Australia

A shattered mother whose son committed suicide after discovering a $2,000 debt under the Robodebt scheme has shared his latest calls with the welfare agency.

Jarrad Madgwick called Centrelink twice in 2019 to find out why his Newstart claim was rejected.

The 22-year-old then went online and discovered a $2,000 Robodebt in his MyGov account. He took his own life hours later.

His mother Kath has now been given access to her son’s latest calls to Centrelink via a Freedom of Information request.

“From the beginning of the year I wanted to know the truth. I wanted Centrelink to be very open with me about the discussions they’d had with him, what they’d sent him,” said Ms Madgwick A current situation.

Mrs Madgwick is adamant that her son committed suicide after learning of his guilt. Services Australia said Jarrad learned of the sum of money on May 28.

“My question is, if Jarrad knew about this debt, why wouldn’t he have mentioned it in the two long phone calls he had with Centrelink on the 30th?” she asked.

In audio of the phone calls, Jarrad sounds distressed about his financial situation.

“Uh hello… I’m in a pretty desperate situation here and my claim was rejected after waiting a month and jumping through all the hoops and I’m just wondering why I haven’t even gotten an explanation?,” asked he.

In another audio clip, Jarrad said, “You rejected my claim, so I can’t be refunded.” So now I’m in default on all my loan payments and everything. It’s f*****.’

Ms Madgwick said her son’s guilt is not mentioned in either phone call, one of which lasted 19 minutes.

She hopes Services Australia will publicly apologize to those who fell victim to the Robodebt scheme.

An apology would help. Will it bring my son back? No. But for the thousands who have suffered from this, I think they need an apology,” she said.

“There won’t be a day that I don’t miss him, want to feel him or hear his laugh or give him a big hug.

“Not a day goes by that I don’t think of him and wish he were here.”

Services Australia said senior leaders have twice traveled to Madgwick to apologize for both her own experience and Jarrad’s.

In a statement to Daily Mail Australia, Services Australia said: ‘Services Australia has made every effort over the past year to support Ms Madgwick and answer her questions and we continue to support social worker.’

“We recognize how difficult this period has been for Ms. Madgwick and so we have put a lot of effort into providing her with information to help her understand her son Jarrad’s dealings with us.”

Income averaging was not used in Jarrad’s case. He entered income information into the online system as part of his income statement.’

On May 28, 2019, the online review notified Jarrad of an estimated debt based on the information he provided. It also advised Jarrad that we get back to him on the final outcome of his assessment.”

“The outcome of Jarrad’s assessment was not final before his death, and he has not spoken to us or received letters with a final debt amount.”

“There was no interaction between the agency and Jarrad, either by phone or online, after speaking with us on the morning of May 30, 2019 when we reported that his Newstart claim had been sent for final processing.”

For confidential support call Lifeline 24 hour crisis support on 13 11 14 or MensLine Australia