This bill is currently before Parliament.
Welfare & housing
The bill would amend social security, family assistance and student assistance laws to implement outstanding recommendations from the Robodebt royal commission and help prevent similar problems happening again.
More than two years after the Robodebt royal commission final report, the government had not enacted significant reform, leaving recommendations outstanding. The bill amends social security, family assistance and student assistance laws to implement those recommendations and strengthen safeguards against similar failures.
The Robodebt royal commission had already set out recommendations about welfare debt assessments and recovery, but many were still outstanding in 2025. With reform still delayed and criticism mounting, this bill was introduced to amend social security, family assistance and student assistance laws and begin implementing those fixes with stronger safeguards.
The supplied evidence shows no substantive opposition; the only caution is that the bill is an incomplete response, focused on adding safeguards around automation, debt recovery and cancellations rather than broader Robodebt system reform. Support from Helen Haines and Andrew Wilkie was tied to those protections, so the concern was narrow rather than a case against the bill itself.
Wilkie introduced this bill. Supportive speeches so far have come from some crossbench members.
Did it become law?
Not yet
Final passage
No final vote yet
The bill has not yet completed passage through Parliament.
Days since introduction
289 days
Updated 10 June 2026.
Meaning
The bill would amend social security, family assistance and student assistance laws to implement outstanding recommendations from the Robodebt royal commission and help prevent similar problems happening again.
It would require the Secretary to waive debts that were caused only by Commonwealth administrative error, by removing existing limits on when those debts can be waived.
It would make it easier to waive debts in family and domestic violence situations, including coercive control or duress, and where a perpetrator caused the overpayment or debt.
It would add stronger safeguards for automated decision-making in Services Australia, including better notification to people affected and more oversight of automated decisions.
It would bring back a six-year time limit for starting debt recovery action, replacing the current rule that allows debt recovery action with no time limit.
This Bill amends the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999, Social Security Act 1991, Social Security (Administration) Act 1999, and Student Assistance Act 1973 to respond to a number of outstanding recommendations of the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme.Explanatory memorandum
Items 1 to 3 amend the administrative error waiver provisions in subsections 97 (1) to (3) in the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999, subsections 1237A(1) and (1A) in the Social Security Act 1991 and subsections 43B (1) and (2) in the Student Assistance Act 1973 to remove limiting conditions on debt waivers, and simply require that the Secretary must waive debts where those debts were solely the result of administrative errors made by the Commonwealth.Explanatory memorandum
This amendment is intended to permit the waiving of a debt where an individual knowingly but unwillingly provides incorrect information which leads to a debt, such as in circumstances of coercive control, or where a perpetrator of family violence knowingly provides false information in order to cause an overpayment or debt. This is intended to give partial effect to recommendation 18.1 of the Robodebt Royal Commission on debt recovery policy by ensuring social security legislation does not create barriers to fair, proportionate and equitable debt recovery or non-recovery, and enabling Services Australia to adequately and appropriately consider contemporary understandings of hardship, vulnerability, and family and domestic violence.Explanatory memorandum
The Bill improves and expands the principles and duties contained within the social security law to better align them with the needs of the people Services Australia is meant to serve, as well as requiring better notification and oversight of automated decision-making within Services Australia and more compassionate debt recovery processes.Explanatory memorandum
Item 11 repeals section 93B which provides for no time limit on a debt recovery action and replaces it with a new section which reinstates a six-year time limit on the commencement of a debt recovery action.Explanatory memorandum
Context
The Robodebt royal commission had already set out recommendations about welfare debt assessments and recovery, but many were still outstanding in 2025. With reform still delayed and criticism mounting, this bill was introduced to amend social security, family assistance and student assistance laws and begin implementing those fixes with stronger safeguards.
Bill first read in the House
The bill was formally presented to the chamber and read a first time.
Parliamentary timeline ↗Bill targets debt recovery failures
The memorandum said the bill would address recommendations on vulnerability, automated decision-making, and debt recovery and collection practices.
AustLII ↗Robodebt recommendations still outstanding
The explanatory memorandum said the bill was meant to respond to outstanding Robodebt royal commission recommendations.
Explanatory memorandum ↗Wilkie introduces Robodebt bill
Independent MP Andrew Wilkie introduced the private member's bill in the House of Representatives.
AustLII ↗Government response to Robodebt inquiry received
Parliament recorded that the government's response to the Senate inquiry on the Robodebt response bill was received on 2 September 2025.
Parliament of Australia ↗Legislative route
The bill was formally presented to the chamber and read a first time, which starts its parliamentary journey.
Introduced and read a first time
A minister or sponsoring member moved the second reading, opening the main debate on the bill's purpose and principles.
Second reading moved
Key criticism
The supplied evidence shows no substantive opposition; the only caution is that the bill is an incomplete response, focused on adding safeguards around automation, debt recovery and cancellations rather than broader Robodebt system reform. Support from Helen Haines and Andrew Wilkie was tied to those protections, so the concern was narrow rather than a case against the bill itself.
No substantive opposition appears in the supplied evidence.
Further sources
Votes
No recorded votes have been found yet for this bill.
Parliamentary debate
Start here — lead voices
Wilkie supports the bill as a necessary response to the government's failure to implement the robodebt royal commission's reforms, arguing it would strengthen legal duties of fairness and dignity in social security administration, require safeguards around automated decisions, improve debt waiver rules and restore a six-year debt recovery limit.
Read in Hansard ↗Helen Haines clearly supports the bill, arguing it addresses unfinished business from the robodebt royal commission by adding stronger protections such as positive duties toward recipients, human oversight of major debts and payment cancellations, automation notices, and a six-year limit on debt recovery.
Read in Hansard ↗All speeches by bloc
2 speakers · 2 support
“The community has been waiting over two years now for the federal government to enact significant legislative reform following the final report of the royal commission into robodebt. But, to their shame, the government has failed to do so, and this bill, the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Responding to Robodebt) Bill 2025, seeks to remedy that.”Read the full speech in Hansard ↗
“Dr HAINES (Indi) (10:33): I second the motion. I'm proud to rise in support of the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Responding to Robodebt) Bill 2025, moved by my friend the member for Clark. This bill represents unfinished business when it comes to robodebt, more than two years after the final report from the robodebt royal commission was handed down. It implements or complements some of the outstanding recommendations from the royal commission's final report. It sets out new positive duties that require the government to emphasise and prioritise the needs of social security recipients when administering social security law and designing systems and policies. It mandates human oversight of debts raised above $2,000 before the decisions come into effect or decisions which would cause the cancellation of a payment or benefit. It also mandates notifying recipients if a debt has been raised against them as a result of automation. It places a six-year time limit on debt recovery actions, among other measures.”Read the full speech in Hansard ↗
Record
House · Introduced and read a first time
Introduced
The bill was formally presented to the chamber and read a first time, which starts its parliamentary journey.
House · Second reading moved
Second reading opened
A minister or sponsoring member moved the second reading, opening the main debate on the bill's purpose and principles.
