People who have been unfairly targeted with inaccurate Centrelink debts could have grounds to sue the government, according to the Australian Lawyers Alliance.
The social services minister, Christian Porter, continued to defend the automated system on Monday, saying the debts being issued were “fairly and legitimately calculated after a very staged and methodical process”.
The commonwealth ombudsman confirmed to Guardian Australia it had initiated its own investigation of the debt recovery system.
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Australian Lawyers Alliance spokesman and Melbourne barrister Greg Barns told Guardian Australia that Centrelink legally owed a duty of care to its customers, which may have been breached.
Barns, once an adviser to NSW Liberal premier Nick Greiner, said 2013 laws on the governance, performance and accountability of commonwealth entitiesrequire public officials to show a “degree of care and diligence that a reasonable person would” when discharging their duties.
If that duty is breached, Centrelink may be forced to compensate those affected, according to the government’s guide to social security law.
“It seems to me that there’s been such a systemic failure in the way this has been put together ... that there is potentially an argument that [Centrelink] has breached its duty of care to its clients,” Barns said.
“If a person suffers a financial loss as a result of that, they may have a cause of action,” he said.
Centrelink also holds a common law duty of care not to give clients negligent advice, Barns said.