Robotdebt: A Warning From Our Cousins In The West Island

09/12/2024

Australia’s Robodebt scandal has become something of a cautionary tale: and for good reason.

I’ve just finished reading the commission of inquiry.

It wasn’t just a case of a system gone wrong. It was a full-blown failure of politics, public service ethics and culture and basic decency.

And for those of us in Aotearoa New Zealand, especially now in a time of tightening budgets, it’s a story worth paying close attention to.

Paul Henman’s recent paper, Robodebt cultures and useful idiots, makes one thing very clear: Robodebt wasn’t a tech failure.

The algorithm did exactly what it was designed to do. The real issue was that it was set up to do something unlawful: automatically raising welfare debts based on flawed assumptions, then chasing people down to pay up. All under the guise of ‘efficiency’.

My take is it wasn’t just about a bad policy idea. It was about a public service culture in which senior public servants, ministers and officials quietly went along with something they knew wasn’t right.

Some actively misled others.

Many avoided asking questions.

Henman calls them “useful idiots”: people who played their roles, kept their heads down, and helped the system tick along, even as it caused real harm.

This is where it gets relevant for us.

In times of austerity, governments start looking for ways to save money. I am writing this having just seen the Half Yearly Forecast Update.

Sure, on the face of it digital systems, automation, and data-matching can look like easy wins. They’re fast, scalable, and can take the human element (and cost) out of decision-making. But Robodebt reminds us: just because something is automated doesn’t make it fair.

And just because a system is efficient doesn’t mean it’s just. In fact, the tech made it worse. It sped everything up, sent out debt letters by the thousand, and made it near impossible for people to challenge the decisions.

In face, the onus was flipped: the system went from the government having to prove you owed money, to you proving you didn’t.

In Aotearoa New Zealand, we like to think our public service is principled, and most of the time, it is.

But even good systems can falter under pressure, especially when ministers want quick results, want to invest less money and public servants feel the safest path is to say yes, not ask questions.

That’s why Robodebt matters here.

It’s a salutory reminder.

A reminder that ethics, legality and accountability need to stay front and centre in public service delivery: especially when we’re working with tech, and most especially when the people affected are those already doing it tough.

So as the pressure comes on to do more with less, let’s not lose sight of the basics.

To all my friends and whānau working in the service, please don’t forget to ask the awkward questions. Insist on transparency. And above all, don’t let yourselves become “useful idiots” to a machine that rolls on without care or conscience.

I am not saying set up a shadown administration. I am saying avoid what happened in the West Island.

Because if it could happen there, it could happen here too.

Reference
Henman, P. W. F. (2025). Robodebt cultures and useful idiots: Why Robodebt was not a techno-failure. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 00, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajs4.383