Madison Wall, Senior Associate

For Felicity, the Robodebt class action was not just about her own financial situation, it was about government accountability. Like many people affected by the Robodebt Scheme, Felicity faced an alleged debt that carried consequences far beyond the amount printed on the debt notice. It created uncertainty, stress, and a sense that she was being treated as guilty and forced to prove her innocence.

Felicity’s Robodebt

In September 2016, Felicity Button received a letter from Centrelink alleging that she owed a debt for overpayment of income support payments, including Youth Allowance and Austudy, that she received while she was studying nursing and working several casual jobs.

Felicity challenged the alleged debt with Centrelink but was unable to get any clear answers. After almost a year of fighting, Centrelink placed Felicity on a payment plan of $20 per week.

In 2017, Felicity took her baby daughter to see a doctor for a respiratory infection. When she tried to pay the consult fee, her bankcard declined. Felicity knew that she had recently been paid and had the funds available to pay for the appointment. This was the shocking moment that Felicity discovered that more than $11,500 had been withdrawn from her bank account.

When Felicity contacted Centrelink to find out what had happened, she was told that the money had been taken by a debt collector to repay her alleged debt.

Driving home from the doctor’s appointment, Felicity felt completely powerless.

The Robodebt Scheme

Unfortunately, Felicity’s experience was not unique.

Between 2015 and 2019, the then coalition Government designed and implemented an automated debt recovery system that used averaged Australian Taxation Office data, rather than actual earnings information, to calculate and assert overpayment debts.

The system, known as the “Robodebt Scheme” sent out more than half a million debt notices to everyday Australians, claiming over $1.76 billion in alleged overpayment debts.

The Robodebt Class Action

Felicity reached out to Gordon Legal, not knowing where to go next.

In November 2019, Felicity joined forces with five other victims of the Robodebt Scheme who bravely used their stories to commence a class action against the Commonwealth Government on behalf of all Australians affected by debts raised under the Robodebt Scheme.

Not long after commencing their case, the Government scrapped the unlawful scheme altogether.

On the doorstep of Court, Felicity, the other lead applicants, and Gordon Legal achieved a $112 million settlement with the Commonwealth Government, including the Government’s commitment to wipe over $1.7 billion in alleged debts and refund more than $750 million in debt repayments.

But that was not end of Felicity’s fight for justice.

The fight for justice continued

In 2022, the Government announced a Royal Commission into the disgraced Robodebt Scheme.

The Royal Commission, which ran until mid-2023, exposed thousands of important documents about the design of the Robodebt Scheme, many of which had not been made available to Gordon Legal in the first Robodebt class action.

Armed with new information and driven by a desire to ensure real accountability for the devastating impacts of the Robodebt Scheme, Felicity supported her peers in further litigation against the Commonwealth, claiming further compensation.

In September 2025, a second settlement was achieved that required the Commonwealth Government to pay a further $548.5 million to the victims of the Robodebt Scheme. Felicity and her peers had achieved the largest class action settlement in Australian history. She describes the years long battle as a fight “like David and Goliath”

The next chapter

Felicity’s fight for justice achieved a $2.4 billion outcome for affected Australians.

While no amount of compensation can erase the trauma and pain that the Robodebt Scheme caused for Felicity or the victims of the Robodebt Scheme, the Robodebt class action has achieved public recognition of the harm caused and held the Government to account.

Written by Madison Wall, Senior Associate, Class Actions. Last updated 04 September 2026.