Robodebt started as an attempt to use data matching and automated decision-making to identify and recoup social security overpayments. It ended with the Federal Court of Australia describing it as “a shameful chapter … and a massive failure”, a NZ$2bn class action settlement, lawyers, public servants and Ministers giving evidence to a Royal Commission, and referrals to corruption agencies and professional regulators.

Robodebt is a case study of ethical failure in public administration—but there are valuable lessons to be learned by in-house lawyers working in any large organisation. This presentation will walk us through what happened, with a particular focus on risk factors to which in-house lawyers should be alive, in order to help prevent equivalent failures in their organisations.