Agreement with ‘Robodebt’ Statements

Q. As you may be aware, some of the people who received notifications had not actually been overpaid, but paid the money required in the notification. The government recently announced that it would be repaying $721 million back to people who paid Centrelink debts they may never have owed.

To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements about the ‘Robodebt’ program?

	NET: Agree	NET: Disagree	Strongly agree	Somewhat agree	Neither agree, nor disagree	Somewhat disagree	Strongly disagree
The Government should apologise to those negatively impacted by the ‘Robodebt’ program	74%	11%	46%	28%	14%	7%	5%
People who repaid money they didn’t actually owe should be given interest and damages	66%	13%	36%	30%	20%	8%	5%
There should be a Royal Commission to investigate the failings of the ‘Robodebt’ program	55%	23%	28%	27%	22%	13%	11%
Even if it was poorly implemented, the use of automated notifications was a good idea	32%	43%	8%	24%	25%	18%	25%

 

NET: Agree	Total	Federal Voting Intention
		Labor	Coalition	Greens	TOTAL: Other
The Government should apologise to those negatively impacted by the ‘Robodebt’ program	74%	79%	69%	76%	81%
People who repaid money they didn’t actually owe should be given interest and damages	66%	71%	60%	71%	74%
There should be a Royal commission to investigate the failings of the ‘Robodebt’ program	55%	64%	45%	60%	53%
Even if it was poorly implemented, the use of automated notifications was a good idea	32%	28%	43%	26%	24%
Base (n)	922	289	376	80	113

• 74% of participants who are aware of ‘Robodebt’ agree that the government should apologise to those who were negatively impacted and 66% agree people who repaid money they didn’t actually owe, should be given interest and damages. Just over half (55%) of participants who are aware of ‘Robodebt’ agree there should be a Royal Commission into its failings, and only 32% agree the use of automated notifications was a good idea, even though it was poorly implemented.
• Participants over 55 are more likely to agree that people who repaid money they didn’t actually owe should be given interest and damages (77%) and the Government should apologise (80%) than those 18-34 years old (57% and 63%).
• Coalition voters are the only voting segment to agree (43%) that even if it was poorly implemented, the use of automated notifications was a good idea, compared to all other voters (27%).