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Robodebt Class Action

FAQs

Robodebt Class Action Settlement

Robodebt Royal Commission Update

Gordon Legal is deeply concerned about the findings made in the Robodebt Royal Commission’s final report.

We are carefully examining the Commission’s very detailed 900-page report to determine what steps, if any, can and should take place to further assist people who were detrimentally impacted by Robodebt, in addition to the class action settlement already achieved. If you haven’t already registered with us, please register via the link below.  

We expect it will take several weeks to examine the final report and what to do next. There is no need to contact us in the meantime.

We cannot assist individuals with their individual issues relating to Centrelink debts. If you received a Robodebt, you would have by now been contacted by Centrelink and refunded.

For assistance with any queries, you should contact Centrelink on 1800 171 846.

Register here

End of the Robodebt Class Action

Gordon Legal’s involvement in the Robodebt settlement scheme has come to an end.

Gordon Legal was appointed to assist with enquiries in relation to the payments that were made to members of the class action, under the settlement that was reached with the Australian Government. Those payments have now been made, and the opportunity to review your settlement payment has now passed.

For assistance with any queries, you should contact Centrelink on 1800 171 846 or Social Security Rights Victoria on 03 9481 0355.

What the Robodebt Class Action achieved

The Representative Applicants commenced the Robodebt Class Action on 19 November 2019. On 16 November 2020, the scheduled first day of trial, the Representative Applicants and the Commonwealth agreed a settlement.

Since the commencement of the class action, more than $1.7 billion in financial benefits will have been provided to approximately 430,000 group members, including the following benefits:

  • The Commonwealth will pay $112 million in compensation to approximately 400,000 eligible individual Group Members, including legal costs;
  • The Commonwealth has repaid more than $751 million in debts collected from Group Members invalidly and will continue to provide refunds;
  • The Commonwealth has agreed to drop claims for repayment of approximately $744 million in invalid debts that had been partly paid back, as well as dropping claims for $268 million in invalid debts where no repayments had been made.

Key points of Robodebt Class Action

The Representative Applicants commenced the Robodebt Class Action on 19 November 2019. On 16 November 2020, the scheduled first day of trial, the Representative Applicants and the Commonwealth agreed a settlement.

Since the commencement of the class action, more than $1.7 billion in financial benefits will have been provided to approximately 430,000 group members, including the following benefits:

  • The Commonwealth will pay $112 million in compensation to approximately 400,000 eligible individual Group Members, including legal costs;
  • The Commonwealth has repaid more than $751 million in debts collected from Group Members invalidly and will continue to provide refunds;
  • The Commonwealth has agreed to drop claims for repayment of approximately $744 million in invalid debts that had been partly paid back, as well as dropping claims for $268 million in invalid debts where no repayments had been made.

Gordon Legal is proud to have achieved this historic result which resolves the claims of hundreds of thousands of people who were issued with Centrelink debts calculated wholly or partly on the basis of averages derived from ATO income data.    

Court documents

Copies of the Court documents are available below:

Frequently Asked Questions

Robodebt Class Action Settlement

From 5 September 2022 Centrelink will begin sending out settlement payment letters to all eligible group members confirming the amount of their settlement payment.

From the 6 September 2022, Centrelink will begin sending out payments.

All payments should be made by 30 September 2022 (barring rejections by financial institutions and payment reviews).

Centrelink has the option to apply to the Court for a 2 week extension to finalise payments if required.

After legal costs were deducted, the settlement fund available was $101 million. This has been divided up between more than 380,000 eligible Group Members with over 400,000 debts in total.

Each eligible Group Members’ settlement payment has been calculated considering:

  • When money was paid towards eligible debts.
  • How much was paid.
  • When this money was refunded.
  • The total number of eligible Group Members.

Group members who paid back more, and were without this money for longer, will get larger payments.

Group members can access their individual calculation by requesting a ‘settlement statement’. This can be done on MyGov or by calling the Income Compliance Line on 1800 171 846.

The individual settlement payments were calculated by Centrelink. The calculations were checked by the Scheme Assurer, KPMG.

The reason that Centrelink were responsible for the calculations is because the information that is needed to calculate the payments – such as the amounts and dates of repayments made by group members – is all held by Centrelink.

Settlement payment amounts are determined by utilizing a formula. This formula considers the following factors upon determining your settlement payment amount:

  • When money was paid towards eligible debts.
  • How much was paid.
  • When this money was refunded.
  • The total number of eligible Group Members.

The settlement payment amount each group member will receive will be different.

Settlement payments are calculated in a similar way to interest. The more you paid back and the longer you went without this money, the larger your settlement payment will be.

Around half of all settlement payments will be between $50 and $300. This amount is based on an average debt of $2000 and Centrelink holding on to that money for 2 years.

If you think your settlement payment amount is not correct, you can request a review up to 30 days after receiving the payment. If you miss this date, your settlement payment cannot be reviewed.

To lodge a review:

  • Go to gov.au sign in and select Centrelink to access your online account
  • Complete the ‘Class action settlement query’ option in the Income Compliance menu; or
  • Call Centrelink on 1800 171 846.

Please be aware that this process is not for Group Members who are unsatisfied with their settlement payment – it is only for calculation errors. The review process will not consider how a group member was affected by the debt. That is not relevant to the calculation of a group member’s settlement payment.

This process may result in your Group Member’s settlement payment being increased or decreased. If Centrelink decreases the settlement payment after conducting a review, you will not have to pay back the difference.

If the amount is increased, the difference will be paid by Centrelink and will not impact other Group Member’s settlement payments.

Centrelink will perform the functions of categorising Group Members and assessing their entitlements, notifying Group Members of their categorisation and entitlements, and distributing settlement payments to eligible Group Members. Gordon Legal and global accounting firm KPMG, who has been appointed as the “Scheme Assurer”, are providing oversight over Centrelink’s functions.

The Scheme Assurer will be responsible for:

  • providing assurance over Centrelink’s categorisation of Group Members, including sampling categorisations;
  • reviewing Centrelink’s IT system for the administration of the settlement distribution scheme; and
  • reviewing the calculation of eligible Group Members’ entitlements and Centrelink’s payment of those entitlements.
  • Gordon Legal is currently in the process of verifying the work of the Scheme Assurer to make sure that its calculations are accurate.

If a Group Member does not agree how their compensation has been calculated under the settlement, they will have the opportunity to raise a dispute with Centrelink at first instance and, if Centrelink cannot resolve their dispute, to the Scheme Assurer. If the Group Member’s dispute remains unresolved, they can seek legal advice regarding their assessment, including from Gordon Legal.

Centrelink will also operate a phone line for Group Members to use to get answers to questions they have about how the settlement affects them. Centrelink’s phone number is 1800 171 846.

Not all Group Members will be entitled to a refund or a settlement payment under the settlement. Some Group Members will still have to pay back their debts.

Group Members have been allocated into different categories in the class action, depending on their individual circumstances, including the information used to calculate their debt and what happened to the debt after it was raised. This has been done to reflect the reality that not everybody’s experience of the Robodebt System was the same.

The table below provides a guide to the categories of Group Members and how the settlement applies to them:

Category Description Refund Settlement outcome
Category 1
  • Debt calculated wholly or partly on the basis of averaged ATO income information
  • No repayments made on debt
 No
  • These Group Members’ debts will be ‘zeroed’ so that they do not have to be paid back in the future
  • These Group Members will receive the benefit of a declaration that the way that Centrelink raised their debt was invalid
  • These Group Members will not receive a settlement payment
Category 2
  • Debt calculated wholly or partly on the basis of averaged ATO income information
  • Some or all of debt was repaid
 Yes
  • These Group Members’ debts will be ‘zeroed’ so that they do not have to be paid back in the future
  • These Group Members will receive the benefit of a declaration that the way that Centrelink raised their debt was invalid
  • These Group Members will receive an additional settlement payment
Eligible category 3
  • Debt calculated wholly or partly on the basis of averaged ATO income information
  • Debt subsequently recalculated by reference to fortnightly income information, such as payslips or bank statements
  • The amount of debt repaid prior to the recalculation was more than the amount of the recalculated debt
 No
  • These Group Members’ debts will not be ‘zeroed’ and they must be repaid in the future, if there are outstanding amounts on the debt
  • These Group Members will receive an additional settlement payment to reflect the detriment they experienced as a result of paying back too much money before the debt was recalculated
Ineligible category 3
  • Debt calculated wholly or partly on the basis of averaged ATO income information
  • Debt subsequently recalculated by reference to fortnightly income information, such as payslips or bank statements
  • The amount of debt repaid prior to the recalculation was not more than the amount of the recalculated debt
 No
  • These Group Members’ debts will not be ‘zeroed’ and they must be repaid in the future, if there are outstanding amounts on the debt
  • These Group Members will not receive a settlement payment

 
Category 4
  • Debt calculated wholly on the basis of actual fortnightly income information such as payslips or bank statements
  • No part of debt calculated by reference to ATO income averaging
 No
  • These Group Members’ debts will not be ‘zeroed’ and they must be repaid in the future, if there are outstanding amounts on the debt
  • These Group Members will not receive a settlement payment

 

All Group Members were advised of their category in the letter sent by Centrelink in November 2021.

 

No. The deadline to opt out has now passed and all Group Members who did not object are bound by the terms of the settlement and cannot withdraw from it.

No. The time for Group Members to lodge objections has closed and the Court has approved the settlement.

Yes.

We believe that the settlement represents a fair and reasonable outcome for Group Members.

It is important to understand that in approving the settlement, the Court decided that the settlement was fair and reasonable in light of the risks that the claim would not be successful at trial and the benefit that it provides to all categories of Group Members.

The Court arrived at this decision after consideration of the objections made by Group Members and the input of the Contradictor, a senior barrister who the Court appointed to specifically represent the interests of Group Members in the settlement process. The Court would not have approved the settlement if it did not think it represented a fair and reasonable outcome for the Representative Applicants and the Group Members.

While running the Robodebt Class Action, Gordon Legal and the Representative Applicants gave deep consideration to how the case could achieve the best possible result within the limitations of the legal system that we operate within, for all Group Members.

However, in such a large class of people, opinions about the settlement are naturally diverse – it is inevitable that not everyone will agree.

In our view, the Robodebt Class Action has secured an important result by ensuring that all Group Members who were deprived of money as a result of invalid Robodebts will be refunded amounts paid on their debts and receive additional compensation.

We understand that the settlement agreement will not provide financial redress for all Group Members and does not achieve all of the ambitions of every individual Group Member.

For those Group Members who do not receive refunds or settlement payments, they at least now have certainty that their debts were not calculated by the invalid Robodebt System.

As a civil legal claim, the Robodebt Class Action’s focus was on financially assisting Group Members and providing greater legal certainty for people who were affected by invalid Robodebts, not on forcing political outcomes.

We understand and support the calls for greater accountability and hope that the Parliament will continue to question how the Robodebt System was allowed to cause so much harm to so many people.

It is also important to understand that the Court did not have power in this proceeding to Order that the Government provide a further apology to Group Members.

One of the complications involved in the Robodebt Class Action was that not all debts raised by Centrelink were calculated using the same method.

Most Group Members were issued with a debt that was raised as a result of Centrelink assuming that they had earnt money during the time they were receiving payments in equal, consistent amounts each fortnight. This is referred to as the averaging method. In some cases, that method was used for the whole of the asserted debt period, in others it was only used for part of the period.

Under the settlement, all debts raised through the averaging method, whether wholly or partially, will be refunded and each Group Member who had such a debt will receive a settlement payment.

A smaller number of debts were raised on the basis of actual income information, usually after payslips or bank statements were provided by the Group Member or otherwise obtained by Centrelink. Centrelink used actual evidence to calculate those debts and Centrelink is lawfully entitled to claim those amounts.

The settlement of the Robodebt Class Action has therefore assisted people who were targeted by Centrelink for debts calculated by the averaging method.  As such, the Group Members who received debts that were calculated using actual income information will not be refunded or receive settlement payments, and their debts must be repaid.

Some Group Members had a debt that was initially calculated on the basis of ATO income averages, but then recalculated after payslips or bank statements were provided by them, resulting in the debt amount being changed to a different amount. Those Group Members who paid back money prior to the recalculation that was more than the amount of the debt when recalculated will not be refunded but will receive a settlement payment. That payment will reflect the disadvantage those Group Members experienced as a result of having more money recovered from them than they actually owed, prior to the recalculation using actual evidence.

If your debt still stands because it was calculated on the basis of actual fortnightly income information (i.e. bank statements and payslips) and not on averages derived from ATO income information, the settlement does not stop you from requesting that Centrelink review your debt if you believe that your debt amount has been incorrectly calculated. While the debt may have been based on information that can validly support a debt, there may still be other errors or issues that Centrelink can resolve.

If you request an internal review, we recommend asking that an Authorised Review Officer conduct the review. This can be done in the following ways:

  • In person at your local Centrelink office;
  • Over the phone by calling the number on your debt notice; or
  • Online via your myGov account by clicking on ‘Complaints’ and in the free text box write that you want a review by an ARO. Or you can download the Review of decision form from the Centrelink website

If an ARO reviews your debt and you still think the debt is wrong, you can review the debt at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

There are a small number of people that Centrelink has identified who are eligible for a refund, but Centrelink has not been able to contact them.

If you think you may be eligible for a refund, but you have not been contacted by Centrelink, you should get in touch with them.

When the Court approved the settlement, it ordered that the legal costs incurred by the Representative Applicants in running the class action and for the work performed in assisting Group Members in the settlement scheme be deducted from the $112 million settlement sum. This means there are no out-of-pocket legal expenses for Group Members.

The Court appointed an independent expert costs referee to assist it to understand the amount of reasonable legal costs that in the running of the class action and the work performed in the settlement scheme.

The total amount that has been deducted from the settlement sum and paid to Gordon Legal for running the class action and helping group members in the settlement is approximately $10.3 million. 

No.

Now that the settlement has been approved by the Court, Group Members who have not opted out will not be able to pursue similar legal claims to those that were made in the Robodebt Class Action.

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Frequently asked questions

General Robodebt Class Action Questions

On 16 November 2020, the Representative Applicants reached a settlement agreement with the Commonwealth. In June 2021, the Federal Court approved the settlement, which means that a settlement distribution scheme will come into effect to finalise the claims of all Group Members. The central aspect of the settlement is that most Group Members will receive a settlement payment in addition to the refund they have already received or will receive in the future.

For more information about the settlement, the settlement terms and how the settlement distribution scheme will operate, please visit the settlement FAQ page.

Following the commencement of the Robodebt Class Action in November 2019, on 29 May 2020 the Commonwealth announced a significant change in its position.  In its May announcement the Government accepted that many debts raised under the Robodebt System were unlawful and, consequently, that it would refund approximately 470,000 debts to around 373,000 people. As a result, refunds of those amounts have been made to most but not all of the 373,000 Group Members to whom the announcement applied.

The Commonwealth has or will pay refunds to those people whose debts were calculated either wholly or partially on the basis of averaged ATO income data. This means that if your debt was calculated wholly on the basis of other information – such as payslips or bank statements – your debt will not be refunded.

If you are not due for a refund, this may be because the Commonwealth has not accepted that your debt or debts were calculated either wholly or partially on the basis of averaged ATO income data.

We understand that the Commonwealth has now paid almost all refunds. As a result of the settlement achieved in the Robodebt Class Action on 16 November 2020 and approved by the Court in June 2021, all Group Members who are eligible for a refund will also receive an additional settlement payment.

Only Group Members who had debts calculated as a result of Centrelink using ATO income averaging are entitled to refunds on any amounts already paid.

Gordon Legal does not have access to information about whether or not you are eligible for a refund.  However, you can check whether you are eligible on MyGov, by following these steps:

  1. Signing in to myGov and go to Centrelink;
  2. Select Payments and Claims – Manage payments from the menu; and
  3. Select Income Compliance refund query to see if you’re eligible for a refund.

If you are eligible for a refund but have not yet received it, you may need to provide Centrelink with updated bank account details so that they can process the payment.

The Government announced in May 2020 that they would commence paying back  refunds from early July 2020. As at May 2021, the vast majority of refunds had been paid.

The refund will include the repayment of any money paid towards a Robodebt as well as interest charged on the debt.

The Government has confirmed that if your refund is a large amount, this will be paid back to you in instalments.

You can check if you are eligible for a refund by:

  1. Signing in to myGov and go to Centrelink;
  2. Select Payments and Claims – Manage payments from the menu; and
  3. Select Income Compliance refund query to see if you’re eligible for a refund.

If your debt was one that has been refunded or withdrawn because it was calculated as a result of invalid income averaging, your tax return will not be garnisheed as repayment for that debt. If your debt is still owed to Centrelink, recovery actions, including garnisheeing your tax return, may be taken against you in the future.  

Centrelink has confirmed that the refund you receive will not be taxed and no further action is required from you in relation to your tax return.

We understand that Centrelink has paid refunds to almost all eligible group members. A small number of Group Members have not yet received refunds because Centrelink do not have their current bank account details and have been unable to get in contact with them.

To update your details with Centrelink, you will need to:

  • Go to my.gov.au, sign in and select Centrelink to access your online account; and
  • Complete the ‘Refund pending’ task.

Your refund will be paid to you within 5 business days of completing the ‘Refund pending’ task. Once your refund has been paid, Centrelink will send you a follow-up letter to confirm the refund amount and the details of the debt/s that were refunded.

If you have received an email or letter from Centrelink since 4 May 2020, enclosing a document entitled “Opt Out Notice – Federal Court of Australia – ‘Robodebt’ (Social Security Debt Collection) Class Action (VID1252/2019)” (the “Group Member Notice”), or if you received a “Notice of Proposed Settlement” from Centrelink in January 2021, then it is safe for you to assume that you are a Group Member. For reference, a copy of the Group Member Notice can be viewed here.

Centrelink debts arise for a variety of reasons, and not every debt is a Robodebt. For example, if you received a debt because Centrelink decided that you were not eligible for the payment you were receiving, this is not a Robodebt and you will not be a Group Member.

Eligibility to be a Group Member is determined by the 3-point definition below. In fact, anyone who meets this definition – even if they do not know about the class action – is a Group Member and will be bound by the settlement. Again, if you have received a MyGov message or letter from Centrelink enclosing the Group Member Notice, you can assume that you are a Group Member.

If you haven’t received a MyGov message or letter from Centrelink since 4 May 2020 enclosing the Group Member Notice you may still be a Group Member if you fit the definition below.

Definition

You are a group member if:

  1. You were in receipt of one of the following Social Security payments:
  • Newstart Allowance
  • Youth Allowance
  • Disability Support Pension
  • Austudy Allowance
  • Age Pension
  • Carer Payment
  • Parenting Payment
  • Partner Allowance
  • Sickness Allowance
  • Special Benefit
  • Widow A Allowance
  • Widow B Pension.

AND

  1. If at any time after April 2015:
  • You received or were sent Centrelink letters or other correspondence or notifications which requested that you check, confirm or update employment income information; and
  • Following this, Centrelink asserted that you owed a debt and demanded repayment of the debt; and

AND

  1. You have paid, or had recovered from you, any debt or part thereof (including through a payment plan, garnishing of tax return or payment of the debt in full).

No. The final day for opting out of the Robodebt Class Action was 29 June 2020.

The vast majority of Group Members who did not opt out by 29 June 2020 will be bound by the settlement agreement reached on 16 November 2020 between the Representative Applicants and the Commonwealth.

However, when the Honourable Justice Murphy approved the settlement in June 2021, he ordered that the approximately 600 Group Members who lodged an objection to the settlement be given the opportunity to opt out of the settlement if they do not wish to be bound by it. These Group Members will receive a letter from Centrelink notifying them of how they can opt out.  

For more information about the settlement, please visit the settlement FAQ page.

Robodebts are a type of Centrelink debt that the Representative Applicants in the class action argued were unlawful. Centrelink has been raising Robodebts since approximately April 2015 and information released by the Commonwealth indicates that at least 470,000 Robodebts have been raised since the system was put in place.

A Robodebt is raised after Centrelink conducts a reassessment of a recipient’s entitlements to social security payments (this could be for a period as far back as seven years) and decides that the recipient was overpaid. Ordinarily, in conducting this reassessment Centrelink sends letters or other correspondence asking that the recipient “check”, “confirm” or “update” their past income information.

The key element of a Robodebt is the evidence used by Centrelink to calculate the overpayment and establish that a debt is owed. Robodebts are calculated by Centrelink applying averaged ATO PAYG income data across either part or all of the fortnights in which the recipient received payments and treating those averaged amounts as the recipient’s actual earnings in the relevant debt period. Therefore, the Robodebt system ignores what the person actually earned at the relevant time.

Robodebts are unlawful because the amount of social security payments a person is entitled to is based on how much the person actually earned when receiving payments – not the averaged ATO amounts. Because of this flaw, our clients argue that Centrelink has no lawful basis for raising a Robodebt. In its announcement on 29 May 2020, the Commonwealth admitted that the Robodebts it raised in this way are invalid.

As part of the settlement agreement reached between the parties, all Robodebts calculated by the invalid averaging method will be refunded and the recipients will receive an additional settlement payment to reflect the detriment they experienced by having the debt raised against them in that way.

If you do not know if your Centrelink debt was a Robodebt, you can find out by checking on MyGov whether you are entitled to receive a refund by following the steps below (remembering that all Robodebts are eligible to be refunded by Centrelink):

  1. Signing in to myGov and go to Centrelink;
  2. Select Payments and Claims – Manage payments from the menu; and
  3. Select Income Compliance refund query to see if you’re eligible for a refund.

We were instructed to launch the Robodebt Class Action because of concerns that the Commonwealth of Australia raised unlawful debts against hundreds of thousands of Centrelink recipients through the Robodebt system.

The Robodebt Class Action was a vehicle to help those people who have received Robodebts by pursuing compensation for their losses, including the money that they paid towards Robodebts (or had taken from them) and the distress and inconvenience that they experienced along the way.

From a legal perspective, the Robodebt Class Action argued that the Commonwealth was unjustly enriched because of Centrelink’s operation of the Robodebt system. It also argued that the Commonwealth was negligent in breaching its duty of care to Centrelink recipients who had unlawful debts raised against them.

Before the Robodebt Class Action began, the Federal Court of Australia made orders which said that Centrelink had raised an unlawful Robodebt against one Centrelink recipient, Ms Deanna Amato. While this decision was important, it applied only to Ms. Amato. The Robodebt Class Action was designed to assist the whole class of people who have been affected.

As a class action, the proceeding was brought by a group of Representative Applicants on behalf of all of the other people affected.

On 16 November 2020, the Representative Applicants reached a settlement agreement with the Commonwealth. In June 2021, the Court approved the settlement, which means that a settlement distribution scheme will come into effect to finalise the claims of all Group Members. The central aspect of the settlement is that most Group Members will receive a settlement payment in addition to the refund that they have already received or will receive in the future.

For more information about the settlement and the settlement terms, please visit the settlement FAQ page

Yes. There is no reason why participating in the Robodebt Class Action as a Group Member would impact your eligibility to receive Centrelink payments.

Now that the settlement has been approved by the Court, Centrelink will contact all Group Members to notify them of how the settlement will apply to them and their entitlement, if any, under the settlement. There is no need to register your interest with Gordon Legal to be included in the settlement process or to receive a benefit under the settlement.

If you have another issue with Centrelink that is not about a Robodebt, we recommend that you consult the social security rights legal service operating in your state. Social security legal services provide free assistance over the phone to people who have issues with Centrelink payments, debts, and other problems. To find your relevant service, refer to the Economic Justice Australia webpage: http://ejaustralia.org.au/legal-help-centrelink/. Select your state here ACT NSW NT QLD SA TAS VIC WA

Details for the Victorian, Queensland and NSW services are listed here:

If your debt is not one that is eligible for a refund because it was not calculated by the invalid income averaging method, it may still have other errors that Centrelink can investigate in an internal review. This may lead to the debt amount being changed.

If you request an internal review, we recommend asking that an Authorised Review Officer conduct the review. This can be done in the following ways:

  • In person at your local Centrelink office;
  • Over the phone by calling the number on your debt notice; or
  • Online via your myGov account by clicking on ‘Complaints’ and in the free text box write that you want a review by an ARO. Or you can download the Review of decision form from the Centrelink website

If an ARO reviews your debt and you still think the debt is wrong, you can review the debt at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

If your Centrelink debt relates to one of these payments, unfortunately this means that you do not fall within the scope of the Robodebt Class Action. This is because the Robodebt system was not applied to these payments.

For further assistance, you can contact Social Security Rights Victoria (SSRV), or the equivalent organisation in your state or territory.

SSRV is an independent state-wide community legal centre that specialises in social security and related law and policy. SSRV’s contact details are as follows:

  • Opening hours: 9am-5pm Monday to Thursday.
  • Website: http://www.ssrv.org.au/
  • Email: info@ssrv.org.au
  • General Advice Line: 03 9481 0355 or 1800 094 164 (rural callers) on Mondays and Wednesdays 9.30am to 12.30pm
  • Worker Help Line: (03) 9481 0655 on Monday-Thursday 9.00am-5.00pm
  • Administration/General Inquiries: (03) 9481 0299 on Monday-Thursday 9.00am-5.00pm

If you are based outside Victoria, please refer to the Economic Justice Australia webpage to locate your nearest social security rights legal centre: http://ejaustralia.org.au/legal-help-centrelink/. Select your state here ACT NSW NT QLD SA TAS VIC WA

If your debt is not eligible for a refund because it was not calculated by invalid income averaging, your debt is still owing to Centrelink. You can check if you are eligible for a refund by following the steps below:

  1. Signing in to myGov and go to Centrelink;
  2. Select Payments and Claims – Manage payments from the menu; and
  3. Select Income Compliance refund query to see if you’re eligible for a refund.

Gordon Legal conducted the Robodebt Class Action on a no-win no-fee basis, so that there would be no out-of-pocket legal fees for Group Members.

When the Court approved the settlement, it ordered that the legal costs incurred by the Representative Applicants in running the class action be deducted from the $112 million settlement sum.

The balance of the settlement amount will be distributed to Group Members under the settlement distribution scheme.

For more information about the settlement and the settlement terms, please visit the settlement FAQ page.

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