Robodebt was a new debt creation system, in which close to half a million Australian welfare recipients were illegally pursued over fake debts generated by the thousands. It was described by the Royal Commission's report as a 'massive failure of public administration' caused by 'venality, incompetence and cowardice'. Essentially, Australians were gaslit by their own government. From ministers to public servants, officials doggedly and knowingly concocted a program that was both mathematically wrong and illegal, just to shake down innocent people for money, then lied about it for four and a half years. Robodebt is an historic and appalling political tragedy, a scheme created deliberately and sustained by institutional cowardice, clearly displaying the systematic contempt that a government had for its own citizens. Powerfully moving, deeply compelling and utterly enraging, Mean Streak tells us disturbing things about the country we are, the bureaucrats we have (both good and bad) and the government that was. In the mode of corporate thriller, this is a scouring cautionary tale of morality in public life gone badly awry - a story which is bigger than robodebt, and far from over.
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