Secretary of social services department apologises for ‘any hurt or harm’ caused by robodebt
The secretary of the Department of Social Services, Kathryn Campbell, has apologised for any hurt or harm caused by the robodebt program.
Campbell, also a former secretary of the Department of Human Services, which created the program, echoed the apology made by Scott Morrison in parliament last month.
She told a Senate inquiry into the robodebt inquiry today:
The department and the agency also apologise for any hurt or harm.
Services Australia’s Michelle Lees says 145,000 people have been refunded so far through the robodebt refunds program. That’s worth $224m.
Updated
at 11.59pm EDT
Your daily gallery of Daniel Andrews giving a press conference is here. There are a lot of close-ups and an admirable use of hand sanitiser.
Updated
at 11.59pm EDT
In a bid to drive down the number of people who were still going to work while awaiting test results for Covid-19, Victoria has paid out 4,200 $300 payments for people in insecure work who were unable to take sick leave while awaiting test results.
The emergency payment is being managed by the Victorian jobs department, and has paid out over $1.26m already, with 5,200 applications.
Guardian Australia has spoken to people who have applied for the payment, and they have said it is relatively simple. In terms of proof, you can provide payslips, or sign a statutory declaration if you don’t have payslips, indicating you could not work your shift while waiting for test results.
One casual worker Guardian Australia spoke to said by the time they had received a response via text message that they’d receive a payment, they’d already had a negative test result, but had missed two shifts, so the payment would be useful for the next pay cycle.
Those who test positive are able to get a $1,500 payment if they have no access to sick leave. Andrews said there was not an insubstantial amount of people applying for, and getting this payment, but he did not have the data on Friday. He said the data would be released in the coming days.
Despite the payments available, Andrews said in almost one in four cases (130 out of 500) where the ADF has visited the home of someone who tested positive for coronavirus, that person wasn’t at home.
Updated
at 12.00am EDT
Some breaking news from Indigenous affairs editor Lorena Allam.
A leading criminal barrister, Phillip Boulten SC, said there is “sufficient force in the evidence” about the cause of David Dungay Jr’s death in custody in 2015 to make a prosecution for manslaughter or assault of the guards involved “viable”.
Updated
at 11.07pm EDT
