Heartbroken mum's plea over robodebt report sealed section

It’s been over a year since the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme (RCRS) wrapped up, but there’s one section of the final report the public has never been privy to.

The sealed section of the RCRS report contains recommendations for “civil action or criminal prosecution” against those who drove or facilitated the illegal scheme.

Unlike the rest of the recommendations, which were tabled in July 2023, the sealed section was hand delivered in hard copy to five people in Australia, including the Attorney-General, Governor-General, members of the Albanese government, and the Australian Public Service commissioner.

It was sealed “so as not to prejudice the conduct of any future civil action or criminal prosecution”, meaning that, at least for now, the prospect of any legal consequences for those involved in the scheme remained secret.

Jennifer Miller is desperately fighting to change that.

“It’s not just about releasing the names in the sealed section, it’s about releasing the names and making them accountable,” Miller told 9news.com.au.

Miller lost her son Rhys Cauzzo after he was targeted by the robodebt scheme.

Rhys was 28 when he died by suicide shortly after being issued with two debts by Centrelink in 2016, one for about $10,000 and a second for about $18,000.

The part-time florist and musician was already living with anxiety and depression when debt collectors started hounding him. On Australia Day 2017, he took his own life.

Losing Cauzzo tore his mother apart from the inside out and when the RCRS was established, she did everything in her power to help bring those responsible to justice.

“It was extremely traumatising and triggering, and I fell into a deep hole for many days,” she said, but she refused to stop fighting.

Even when the RCRS’ final report was handed down, Miller kept pushing for justice and accountability to prevent anything like the robodebt scandal from happening again.

That’s why she’s demanding the release of the sealed section, saying the public have a right to know who was to blame for the scheme and how they were punished – if at all.

Earlier this month, the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) revealed that a dozen current and former senior public servants involved in the illegal scheme breached their code of conduct on 97 occasions.

Some will not face sanctions for the code of conduct breaches as they no longer work for the department.

Miller is desperate for more honesty and transparency and fears that without it, history is doomed to repeat itself and vulnerable Australians will once again be the ones who pay the price.

She’s not the only one eager to see the sealed section made public.

Former judge Geoffrey Watson, from the Centre for Public Integrity, argued in 2023 that “the public is entitled to know” what is in the sealed section.

Both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Minister for Government Services Bill Shorten have also made it clear that the sealed section was not supposed to stay sealed forever.

Miller says the individuals whose names remain a secret, their identities hidden in the pages of the sealed section, need to be held accountable for their involvement in the robodebt scheme.

“My dream accountability is that I could visit them in jail and go, ‘remember me’. Obviously, we’re not going to get that, but I would like them to be stripped of any awards [and] I would like them to be fined substantially.”

It’s been almost eight years since she lost her son and she never dreamed that she’d still be fighting this battle, not just for him, but for every Australian affected by robodebt.

“I wish I could turn the clock back, and it never happened. I really, really do,” Miller said of her son’s death.

“But it did happen, and because of that, they need to be held accountable.”