Record payout for victims of 'illegal and immoral' Australian welfare scheme

The Australian government has agreed to a record payout of $1.8 billion to compensate victims of its controversial "robodebt" welfare scheme. The scheme, which operated between 2015 and 2019, wrongly accused hundreds of thousands of Australians of receiving welfare overpayments and demanded they repay the debts, even though many of the debts did not actually exist. The scheme, described as "illegal and immoral" by the government, relied on an automated system to calculate welfare payments, leading to widespread errors and causing significant financial and emotional distress for those affected. The settlement will provide compensation to individuals who were wrongly targeted, with payments ranging from $400 to $12,000 per person. The Australian government has acknowledged the scheme's failures and committed to reforming its welfare system to prevent similar issues from occurring in the future. The payout represents one of the largest class-action settlements in the country's history and is seen as an important step towards addressing the harms caused by this controversial welfare program.