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Editor's note
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Often, government agencies are keen to have the full extent of their powers tested in court. Not Centrelink. Announcing a class action against the government over its practice of issuing so-called Centrelink robo-debts, legal veteran Peter Gordon said his suspicions were aroused when he noticed that in two years of asserting that it was owed robo-debts, Centrelink has always wiped them just before its rights to them get tested in open court.
Standing with him in parliament house on Tuesday was Labor’s new government services spokesman Bill Shorten, the former opposition leader. Shorten said he consulted Gordon shortly after taking on the portfolio in May and immediately saw the potential for a class action.
This morning, former Administrative Appeals Tribunal member Terry Carney explains that what’s different about this class action and the actions already underway before the tribunal is that it can’t be stopped by Centrelink wiping debts. More than half a million Australians have been served automatically generated notices asserting that their benefits have been overpaid since the robo-debt program began in mid 2016, meaning there are plenty of
potential participants.
Tax law expert Helen Hodgson notes that the government itself has conceded that as many as one in five of the debt recovery notices issued under the program might be incorrect, an admission that should lend weight to the claim that there is something systematically wrong with the program, should the case get to court.
The total value of the robo-debt notices issued, not all of which will ever be collected, is $1.25 billion, which happens to be a fair chunk of the 2018-19 budget surplus Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is expected to announce later this week.
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Peter Martin
Section Editor, Business and Economy
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Top story
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Labor’s government services spokesman Bill Shorten and lawyer Peter Gordon announcing Gordon Legal’s robo-debt class action in Canberra on Tuesday.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
Terry Carney, University of Sydney
The government's claim that its automated debt notice system is legal has never been tested in open court.
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Jacqui Lambie has signalled she will play hardball on a number of key issues to get what she wants in exchange for her vote.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Mark Kenny, Australian National University
Back for a second stint in the Senate, the Tasmanian finds herself with unprecedented power, holding the crucial swing vote on several key issues in the government's agenda.
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Children play near a coal-fired power plant in the town of Obilic, Kosovo, in November 2018.
EPA/Valdrin Xhemaj
Bill Hare, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
Ahead of the UN climate summit, we take stock of the world's best and worst performers on climate action - including some surprise success stories.
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Linking your mobile number to your bank account could have unintended consequences.
SewCream/Shutterstock.com
Paul Haskell-Dowland, Edith Cowan University
PayID has been misused and compromised in various ways since its 2018 launch. The system deals only in "incoming" payments, not outgoing ones – but that doesn't mean users are safe from cyber crime.
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Environment + Energy
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David Hall, Auckland University of Technology
Climate change is a super-wicked problem. With a growing sense of urgency to act on climate change, it is vital we strike a balance between encouraging action and limiting pushback.
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Science + Technology
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Steven Conway, Swinburne University of Technology
Google's Stadia and Apple Arcade will rattle the gaming world this year. Both aim to solve current limitations, but as user experience improves, issues around connectivity and cost arise.
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Health + Medicine
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Katie Attwell, University of Western Australia; Mark Navin, Oakland University
In some countries, parents are fined if they don't vaccinate their child or they have to go on a course before being granted an exemption to vaccinate. Are any of these options right for Australia?
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Fiona Charlson, The University of Queensland
When we think about the health impacts of climate change, the effects of rising temperatures on physical health are often front of mind. But climate change affects people's mental health, too.
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Business + Economy
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Helen Hodgson, Curtin University
Robodebt isn't slowing down, and its being augmented with other ways of belittling beneficiaries.
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Arts + Culture
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Nathalie Collins, Edith Cowan University; Jeff Volkheimer, Duke University
Friends started airing 25 years ago this week. You might think of it as just a nostalgic sitcom: but it actually has a lot to teach us about how to be a good manager.
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Melanie Walters, University of Adelaide
XXX Neon Sign – a piano work about working in a Brisbane porn shop – is a new work of 'composed theatre', where the performer and the performance are inextricably linked.
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Cities
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Patrick Love, University of Melbourne; Mark Stevenson, University of Melbourne
The Spanish city is remaking urban neighbourhoods by limiting through traffic in superblocks that give priority to pedestrians and street activities, not cars.
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Education
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Ben Arnold Lohmeyer, Flinders University
To understand why young people may become bullies we need to consider some of the less visible ways they are exposed to power inequalities and violence.
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Politics + Society
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese appears to be distancing himself from his predecessor Bill Shorten with his pro-business rhetoric.
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
As he leaves to take up his new post as Ambassador to the United States, Arthur Sinodinos warns that the Australian media landscape is becoming increasingly partisan.
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
As Arthur Sinodinos prepares to leave the Senate for his new role as Australian ambassador to the US, he sits with Michelle Grattan to reflect on his time in politics.
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Andy Marks, Western Sydney University
With her party ideologically riven and a difficult parliament, the NSW premier finds herself in political trouble, despite performing well on key measures.
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