RORY SALAZAR | Finance | Contact
After years of being illegally hounded by the government to pay back thousands of dollars of debt he never owed in the first place, Jill Dempsey has tasted the sweet juice of justice.
Dempsey, who dealt with an endless stream of terror at the hands of the notorious Robodebt recovery system, received $11 compensation as part of the class action lawsuit filed by Gordon Legal on behalf of over 430,000 victims.
“It’s been the worst 5 years of my life to be honest,” Dempsey told The Advocate.
Introduced in 2015, the notorious Robodebt system falsely accused members of the community of owing money to the government, to the tune of almost $2 billion in payments from 433,000 people.
“It’s hard to explain just how horrific it’s been. I was treated like a criminal for years for something I didn’t do. Am I supposed to feel ‘all better now’ for $11?”
The Advocate understands that while the years of emotional trauma suffered by Robodebt victims is impossible to quantify, it is clear that Dempsey should feel all better now given that most victims received compensation packages of between $10 and $200.
In fact, he should feel lucky considering some victims received as little as 7 cents compensation.
“I don’t want $11. I want the bastards responsible to go to jail,” whinged an ungrateful Dempsey.
While the former government agreed to a $1.2b settlement for the class action, it has not admitted to any liability or knowledge of the scheme’s unlawfulness as part of the settlement.
Not even the man who oversaw its administration as then-human services minister, Alan Tudge.
“We’ll do the payout. But we categorically reject the premise of any suicides or pain and suffering caused by Robodebt,” Tudge said proudly of the system that caused pain and suffering.
The Advocate asked Mr Tudge if he was concerned what the current royal commission into all this skulduggery would find, to which he responded with a dismissive wave of hand and idle chuckle, saying, “Oh please, when has a federal minister ever paid for the horrific shit they did during their time in office?”
The Advocate can report the answer continues to be ‘never’.
