Inquiry launched into anti-corruption commission's decision to not investigate robodebt referrals

The National Anti-Corruption Commission's (NACC) decision to not investigate any of the six public officials referred to it by the robodebt royal commission is itself going to be the subject of an inquiry after a deluge of public complaints.

NACC Inspector Gail Furness has received nearly 900 complaints about last week's decision, which was criticised by many victims of the illegal debt recovery scheme.

Furness said she would probe the decision and make her findings available to the public, although didn't indicate how long that would take.

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"Many of those complaints allege corrupt conduct or maladministration by the NACC in making that decision," she said in a statement this afternoon.

"I also note that there has also been much public commentary. Accordingly, I have decided to inquire into that decision.

"I anticipate that I will make my findings public, in due course."

The NACC said last week that it would not conduct corruption investigations into any of the six people who were referred to it by the royal commission.

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That was not a vindication of any of those public officials' conduct – instead, the anti-corruption body said they had already been fully investigated by the royal commission and that any fresh probe was unlikely to uncover fresh evidence against them.

It also noted five of the six officials had been referred to the Australian Public Service Commission, which, unlike the NACC, can impose sanctions on officials it investigates.

However, robodebt victims and other members of the public were left unhappy with the decision.

"The decision by the NACC to not investigate these issues further will also be deeply disappointing to people whose lives were torn apart by robodebt," the Australian Council of Social Services said in a statement last week.

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"While no compensation has been provided to victims of the illegal and harmful scheme, no one responsible for its design, implementation and continuation has been publicly held accountable in a meaningful way.

"The lack of justice is the key issue that so many need resolved."

The identities of the six officials were included in a sealed chapter of the robodebt royal commission's final report and have never been made public.

Robodebt raised $1.73 billion in unlawful debts against more than 400,000 people during its four-and-a-half years of operation, and the royal commission found it had led to three suicides, and likely many more.

"The commission is confident that these were not the only tragedies of the kind," Commissioner Catherine Holmes wrote.

"Services Australia could not provide figures for the numbers of people who committed suicide as a result of the scheme."

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