{"id":916167,"date":"2026-10-04T19:58:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T19:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/916167\/"},"modified":"2026-10-04T19:58:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T19:58:14","slug":"youre-denying-what-you-did-to-my-son-mother-of-robodebt-victim-told-she-is-ineligible-for-compensation-centrelink-debt-recovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/916167\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018You\u2019re denying what you did to my son\u2019: mother of robodebt victim told she is ineligible for compensation | Centrelink debt recovery"},"content":{"rendered":"

The mother of a robodebt victim who ended his life says she is experiencing \u201cinjustice of another kind\u201d after commonwealth lawyers said she would be excluded from an historic $475m class action settlement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kath Madgwick\u2019s son, Jarrad, was 22 when he died by suicide in 2019 after being told he owed nearly $2,000.<\/p>\n

Seven years on, the real estate agent said she was still fighting to ensure it never happens to another person.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want them to admit what they\u2019ve done to my son \u2026 to start to take responsibility for their errors, and to ensure that this doesn\u2019t happen to somebody else again,\u201d Madgwick told Guardian Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cI won\u2019t give up until such time as they do, and that creates havoc on my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The federal government last year agreed to pay an additional $475m in compensation to about 450,000 victims of the robodebt scandal.<\/p>\n

But Madgwick said commonwealth lawyers informed her last month she would not be eligible, because her son did not receive an official debt notice before or after his death.<\/p>\n

Services Australia, which administers support payments, also disputes Jarrad\u2019s estimated debt was generated through the unlawful income averaging method used in the scheme.<\/p>\n

This is despite a royal commission detailing the impacts that the scheme has had on the Madgwick family.<\/p>\n

Royal commission focus<\/p>\n

The $475m settlement followed an appeal by Gordon Legal of the original robodebt class action, settled in 2020.<\/p>\n

The appeal focused on the grounds that the robodebt royal commission had in July 2023 unearthed \u201cdamning new evidence\u201d<\/a> to support claims that the public servants who ran the scheme engaged in \u201cmalfeasance in public office\u201d.<\/p>\n

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The settlement, which will begin paying out compensation from December, will extend to scheme victims who experienced economic loss, distress, or psychiatric illness or conditions. It will also extend, in some circumstances, to those with close personal relationships with victims who are now deceased.<\/p>\n

Madgwick expected her son\u2019s situation would be captured. The royal commission itself dedicated more than a page of its final report to his case.<\/p>\n

On 28 May 2019, Jarrad had received a letter from Centrelink<\/a> asking him for payslip details, which he provided later that day. The young adult had returned home due to financial distress and was applying for a Newstart allowance.<\/p>\n

The department had began conducting a review after determining there was a \u201cdiscrepancy between his declared earnings and ATO PAYG income amounts, indicating a potential overpayment\u201d, according to the royal commission\u2019s report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jarrad was informed through his MyGov portal that \u201cthe review would be processed\u201d and that \u201ca provisional debt outcome\u201d had been determined in the amount of $1,795.85 for the period 28 April 2018 to 22 June 2018.<\/p>\n

Two days later after speaking with Centrelink, Jarrad told his mother he didn\u2019t believe he would receive his Newstart allowance because of the debt. He died by suicide that evening.<\/p>\n

The royal commissioner\u2019s report said<\/a> the way Jarrad was informed about a potential debt with Centrelink was a \u201cprecipitating factor\u201d in his death.<\/p>\n

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After his death, Madgwick spoke to Centrelink to inform them of Jarrad\u2019s death. The debt was raised on 3 June 2019 \u2013 four days after his death \u2013 and \u201cpermanently written off\u201d on 4 June 2019, according to an internal customer record released under freedom of information laws.<\/p>\n

Madgwick said she had been told by the commonwealth that because Jarrad never received an official debt notice \u2013 apart from the provisional estimate through the MyGov portal \u2013 they would not be eligible for compensation.<\/p>\n

Services Australia responds<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Services Australia said the agency acknowledged the royal commission\u2019s findings about Jarrad\u2019s \u201ccircumstances and the profound impact of the robodebt scheme on individuals, families and vulnerable people\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, it disputed that his provisional debt outcome was calculated using income averaging.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe robodebt scheme was found unlawful due to the use of income averaging in raising debts. The key basis for eligibility under both settlements is whether the person\u2019s debt involved income averaging,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr Madgwick\u2019s provisional debt outcome did not involve income averaging.\u201d<\/p>\n

The royal commission\u2019s report found Jarrad\u2019s provisional debt notice was calculated after he uploaded his payslips. However, the agency\u2019s review into potential overpayments to Jarrad was triggered by the income averaging method using tax office data.<\/p>\n

The spokesperson for Services Australia said it now recognised communication about potential debts \u201ccause distress, particularly for vulnerable customers\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince 2019, Services Australia has changed how it communicates with customers about debts and reviews,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe now assist customers who\u2019ve been overpaid with clearer information online, strengthened support pathways for vulnerable people and increased access to specialist social work assistance for those with situations requiring extra help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Madgwick said the seven-year saga continues to affect her mental health, but has vowed to continue fighting for justice.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they say that they\u2019ve cut me out of [the settlement], it says to me you\u2019re denying what you did to my son,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy son was innocent. He\u2019s lost his life. I\u2019ve lost him.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline<\/a> is 13 11 14. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans<\/a> can be contacted on freephone 116 123. In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline<\/a> at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org<\/a>. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The mother of a robodebt victim who ended his life says she is experiencing \u201cinjustice of another kind\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":916168,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-916167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=916167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/916168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=916167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=916167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=916167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}