Today’s Historic Settlement Underscores SBS’s Powerful New Series The People v Robodebt

BREAKING: The federal government has today agreed to pay an additional $475 million in compensation to Australians impacted by the unlawful Robodebt scheme. It is the largest class action settlement in Australian history, marking a pivotal moment in a controversy that has shaken Australia’s welfare system.

This powerful new chapter provides timely context for SBS’s three-part docu-drama The People vs Robodebt, premiering Wednesday 24 September at 7.30pm on SBS, with all three episodes available to stream on SBS On Demand.

Through whistleblowers, frontline Centrelink staff, legal advocates and the ordinary Australians who fought back, the series exposes the human cost of Robodebt and the long road to justice.

Kathryn Fink, SBS Director of Television said, “This timely series reveals the human stories behind this heartbreaking injustice and underscores the importance of being courageous in telling the stories that matter.”

The People vs Robodebt is a CJZ production for SBS. Paula Bycroft, Supervising Executive Producer at CJZ said: “Today’s record-breaking settlement is a testament to the bravery of the victims and workers who spoke out against Robodebt. Nurse and mum Felicity Button, who told her compelling story in The People vs Robodebt, soon to be screened on SBS, is one of thousands who will finally be compensated for the trauma they experienced.” 

The series has unparallelled access to the heroic people who took a stand against Robodebt, many speaking for the first time. Key contributors include Jenny Miller, mother of Rhys Cauzzo, whose story was the first Robodebt-related suicide reported in the media; Deanna Amato, whose court case proved Robodebt was illegal; Felicity Button, one of the lead applicants in the class action against Robodebt; Sandra Bevan, who desperately tried to prove her innocence; Colleen Taylor, a veteran public servant who warned her superiors from the start that Robodebt was wrong; Jeannie-Marie Blake, a whistleblowing frontline Centrelink worker; Chris Knaus, the Guardian journalist who broke the first media stories about the flaws in the Robodebt scheme; Rachelle Miller, the insider and media adviser who worked to ‘control the narrative’ for the government; Lyndsey Jackson, who, on maternity leave with a newborn baby, started the #NotMyDebt website – fighting against the Robodebt scheme from her kitchen table; Asher Wolf (pseudonym), renowned digital activist and fellow instigator of #NotMyDebt; Dr Darren O’Donovan, one of Australia’s leading legal experts on Robodebt; Miles Browne and Charley Brumby-Rendell, the Victoria Legal Aid lawyers who defeated Robodebt in a legal battle against the government.

All 3 episodes of The People vs Robodebt will premiereon Wednesday 24 September on SBS On Demand. Episodes air weekly on SBS.