Indy,

When the real good folk come to power, a new scheme of debt recovery will be introduced, it will be called 'ROBOPENSION'. A 'Form Letter' will be computer generated and sent to all aged welfare recipients. I have designed the letter personally. It's as follows;

Dear Mr XXXXXXXX

Greetings and salutations from The Department of Pensioner Debt Recovery.

How is your (Lumbago, arthritis, dementia, incontinence) the computer will randomly choose and insert one, I think that line will give the letter that caring personal touch from the department, showing empathy for the intended victim.

Then we get straight to the nitty-gritty.

PAY UP BUDDY NOW! THE RIP OFF'S OVER! (I think that's clear enough)

Cough up $XXXXXX.XX (The computer will randomly insert a six figure amount) within 24 hours otherwise you will be visited by our debt recovery officer, 'ROBOCOP' and he ain't a nice fella! (I think that's to the point, but without any possibility of instilling any fear into the intended victim.)

If you have any concerns with this debt, don't bother replying, we've got ya dead to rights BUDDY THE JIG IS UP!

Signed.
Compurter G48N10

P/S Have a nice day. from the friendly computer folk at Pensioner Debt Recovery.

I think my letter is possibly stern enough, but still compassionate.

All this pretend boo hoo about 'poor, hard-done-by "victims"' is just an excuse to rubbish a particular group of politicians, who have had done to them all that can be done to them by the electorate. It's finished. Get over it. Robodebt was hardly a major incident, compared the with sky-rocketing cost of living and failing economy we have now, with much worse to come.

ttbn,

Considering Robodebt was a diabolical Liberal Government-initiated extortionate racket targeting the most vulnerable in our communities, it was quite a big deal.

Who would defend Morrison (who is now going down in history as the worst PM of the worst government) and his cronies for instituting such a transparently dishonest and illegal system of debt collection?

Noting it came in under Turnbull, who appears to be busily running around attempting to rehabilitate his legacy of going along with everything the hard-right wanted.

Hi Poirot, welcome back to the Forum,

How many committed suicide, a couple of dozen probably, of more importance to ttbn and his ilk is the escalating price of baked beans in the supermarket, and for some the price of a schooner down at 'God's Waiting Room'.

I didn't know it at the time, but was able to get a $3,000 debt wiped by 'Citrelink' for one person. I used the line; "you are averaging his income over the period, you should be looking at it each fortnight". Got a sympathetic officer at 'Centrelink' and eventually the debt was wiped. Not so successful with another chap and a $900 debt, a different officer, negotiated a $50/fortnight repayment, the $900 was just as sus as the $3,000 but different office, different interpretation, and a less caring attitude. I had a bit to do with 'Centrelink' working in Sydney, mostly helping people apply for benefits,and so much depends on the particular officer and their supervisor, sorry team manager, you deal with. Some can be really helpful, others don't give a sh!t, but you have to Try To Be Nice (ttbn for short) to them all. I recall a nice old bloke name Phil, went years without applying for the 'Aged Pension', he just didn't bother, lived off handouts, and cans he collected, called a "meat pie" a "baked dinner", died in his 70's.

There are lots of Centrelink cheats, and it's a fair bet that many were caught in the Robodebt action. The pretend oh-so-concerned Left are not interested in that, though.

The action was not the Grand Inquisition, and it gave the usual sorts something to whinge about.

Whingeing is a hobby for these people, who include those who whinge about anyone even receiving welfare or the OAP, but whinge when the government polices the system. They whinge; not so much, if at all, about the current economic situation brought about by the current government.

Robodebt was specifically designed to scoop-up anybody who happened to be working and reporting their income.

It was the "averaging" aspect - the deliberate system designed to apply a consistent earning capacity that was the problem.

Deliberate and illegal - who would defend such a thing?

I see you are now back to the old trope of blaming the new government for the present economic squeeze.

When I was here in days of yore - it was the "debt and deficit disaster" post GFC which left us with a deficit of around $280 billion.

The Libs got in, promptly cut everything to the bone, and doubled it to just under $600 billion ... before Covid!