The Commonwealth has agreed to pay AU$112 million in compensation to approximately 400,000 eligible individual group members, including legal costs.
The class action lawsuit brought on by Gordon Legal against the Commonwealth of Australia in relation to the Centrelink Online Compliance Intervention (OCI) scheme, colloquially known as robo-debt, was meant to begin on Monday, with court dates scheduled for the next fortnight. While counsel for the Commonwealth and those for the applicants all appeared for the 10:00am AEDT online hearing, within minutes, counsel for the applicants, Bernard Quinn QC, asked Justice Bernard Murphy for indulgence until 11:00am, allowing the parties to continue discussions. « Last Wednesday I informed the court that discussions were ongoing… those discussions have continued over the weekend and have been very productive, » Quinn said. « Discussions are still occurring. » The online Federal Court of Australia hearing resumed at 1:00pm local time, with Quinn assuring Justice Murphy that it was not wasted time. « I’m delighted to be able to inform … that the matter, subject to court approval, has been resolved, » he said. « We have agreed terms … in a settlement deed, which will be executed over the next couple of days by the parties. That really leaves … simply the matter of an application pursuant to section 33V to be made and for possible dates to be set.
