Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Technical Changes No. 2) Bill 2026

Ms CHANEY (Curtin) (17:35): I rise to speak very briefly to the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Technical Changes No. 2) Bill 2026. Amongst other changes, this bill strengthens the legislative basis for the automation of a series of social security payments. Now, this is not a bad thing.

These are payments that, for example, allow for advance payments of a person's social security or family assistance entitlements. Automation can allow for faster processing and delivery at scale, but it is a bit ridiculous that the Albanese government is proceeding with an agenda of automation when it still has not actioned two key recommendations of the Robodebt royal commission.

I want to share those with you. Recommendation 17.1 said: The Commonwealth should consider legislative reform to introduce a consistent legal framework in which automation in government services can operate. Where automated decision-making is implemented: there should be a clear path for those affected by decisions to seek review departmental websites should contain information advising that automated decision-making is used and explaining in plain language how the process works business rules and algorithms should be made available, to enable independent expert scrutiny.

Recommendation 17.2 of the Robodebt royal commission said: The Commonwealth should consider establishing a body, or expanding an existing body, with the power to monitor and audit automate decision-making processes with regard to their technical aspects and their impact in respect of fairness, the avoiding of bias, and client usability. Now, the government says all the right things about Robodebt.

It's told us that it will never let something like that happen again, that it was shocking oversight and negligence on behalf of the coalition. But what has the Albanese government actually done to make it less likely? It most certainly has not introduced any legislative rules around the use of automated decision-making in government, despite these recommendations of the royal commission.

Now we're seeing the real repercussions of unregulated automation in the aged care sector and the NDIS. We've seen something recently on Four Corners about the level of community concern there is about that. We've been waiting for years for action on this.

It's not good enough. Before it continues its agenda of automating government services, the Albanese government must legislate a mandatory framework for automated decision-making in government incorporating transparency requirements, human oversight of high-risk decisions, meaningful review rights and independent oversight. I'll continue to fight for this because it's vital for the efficiency of government.

It's vital for trust in our government and for the safe and trusted delivery of some of the most important social services, like the NDIS, aged care, social security and beyond. That is why I'm moving a second reading amendment to this bill, as circulated in my name, that would encourage the parliament to actually pass a bill to incorporate this sort of mandatory framework that was recommended by the royal commission: That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words: "whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House: (1) notes that: (a) this bill paves the way for the automation of a series of social security decisions; (b) when used well, automated decision-making can deliver faster, more consistent and more efficient government services; and (c) the government has still not legislated a mandatory framework for automated decision-making in government, despite the recommendation of the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme; and (2) calls on the government to legislate a mandatory framework for automated decision-making in government, incorporating transparency requirements, human oversight of high-risk decisions, meaningful review rights and independent oversight, to prevent a repeat of the failures of the Robodebt Scheme".

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Payne ): Is the motion seconded? Ms Boele: I rise to second the motion and reserve my right to speak.