Law Report AI and automated decision making in government
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Jul 8, 2025 Terry Carney, an Emeritus Law Professor who exposed the Robo-debt crisis, Kimberley Wetherill, a law professor focused on AI ethics, and Kate Ellingham, CEO of Economic Justice Australia, discuss the pitfalls of automated decision-making in government. They highlight the disastrous consequences of Robo-debt, advocating for stricter oversight and transparency in AI applications. The need for robust governance structures to protect vulnerable populations is emphasized, alongside lessons learned from previous failures in social security automation.
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RoboDebt's False Debt Tragedy
- Australia's RoboDebt scheme used faulty income averaging algorithms to raise false debts against nearly 800,000 people.
- The program caused severe human toll and led to suicides before being halted and investigated.
Systemic Harm from Automated Errors
- People impacted by automation errors in social security face crisis rather than legal rights acknowledgment.
- Exhaustion from battling the system often leads to homelessness and additional legal issues.
Legal Remedy Gaps in Australia
- The UK allows individuals to challenge entire automated decision systems, unlike Australia which limits challenges to individual decisions.
- The UK enforces public sector equality duties to assess policy impacts on protected groups; Australia lacks such a right.