Secret Deloitte review into automated JobSeeker system warns of “instability,” “unintended impacts”

A $439,000 report kept under wraps by the government has issued urgent warnings over the system responsible for managing vulnerable Australians on JobSeeker, with fears the program punishes those struggling and is prone to error. The damning report comes after the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) and Services Australia were found to have illegally cancelled the JobSeeker payments of 964 recipients between April 2022 and July 2024. A review completed by Deloitte, which was received by DEWR on June 18 and remained unpublished until inquiries from NewsWire on Thursday, said repeated modifications and updates of the system had created at “excessively convoluted” code base which “lacks architectural integrity” had become “difficult to manage. Commonwealth Ombudsman Iain Anderson said he feared it would have likely resulted in “profound if not catastrophic” effects on Australians struggling financially. The mistaken terminations, which have been likened to robodebt 2.0, occurred after the controversial automated Targeted Compliance Framework (TCF) responsible for ensuring JobSeeker recipients met their mutual obligations repeatedly malfunctioned. A lack of a “comprehensive design register” also meant any changes require “extensive manual intervention across multiple databases and workflows,” resulting in a high “likelihood of system instability and unintended impacts on participant case outcomes”. Additionally the Statement of Assurance said the TCF has “not evolved or matured” since it was introduced under the Coalition government in 2018, and “lacks the risk-based proportionality and participant centred design” found in similar programs used by the ATO, Australian Border Force and the NDIS. In another scathing finding, Deloitte, who were paid $439,142 to undertake the review, said other large government IT systems which weren’t used by vulnerable Australians placed “greater emphasis on human case management to respond to complex participant needs”. Criticisms were also made of the TCF’s technical makeup. The report said the volatility of the program had been “exacerbated by the widespread use of unconventional technical practices”, like hard-coded fixes. However, the two out of three of the glitches which resulted in the nearly 1000 JobSeeker payment terminations were “embedded during the original 2018 system”. Despite amendments passed in 2022, which called for greater discretion to be used before the cancelling of payments, Deloitte said there was “no evidence” that the “capacity for discretionary decision-making functionality was embedded in the system” ever. The review called on DEWR to limit or suspend further modifications to the system to “constrain the risk of further disruptions,” and limit the introduction of new defects. If necessary, changes to comply with legislative updates should be “thoroughly assessed by policy, legal and technical authorities to ensure legislative and policy compliance and anticipated outcomes are maintained”. DEWR must also urgently strengthen its current internal review processes to ensure negative case determinations are “supported by appropriate evidence” and lawful under current legislation. Welfare advocates, like the Anti-Poverty Centre, the Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS), and Economic Justice Australia have repeatedly criticised the use of the TCF, calling for the punitive measure to be removed. Mr Anderson, the Commonwealth Ombudsman also singled out DEWR secretary Natalie James had been so slow to act, taking 10 months April 2022 to September 2023 to pause the automated cancellations after it was raised by external legal advisers. As of March 21 this year, reductions and cancellations in income support payments have been paused pending ongoing legal and IT reviews, however suspensions have remained. The department has also yet to implement the Digital Protections Framework, despite legislative requirements passed in 2022, with Mr Anderson writing: “We do not consider a delay of over three years, coupled with an indefinite commitment to future action, is reasonable”. Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth welcomed the release of the report, and said she had been assured by DEWR that “they have already begun work to address the urgent recommendations identified in the report”. “The government understands the importance of ensuring that systems and processes operate effectively, particularly when they interact with vulnerable people,” she said. Ms James said “the department’s highest priority is to ensure people’s social security payments are not affected except in accordance with the law”. “The urgent actions identified in the review are underway.”

Secret Deloitte review into automated JobSeeker system warns of “instability,” “unintended impacts”

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