A robo-debt victim who took his life after being told he had $17,000 in welfare debts was “let down by the system”, his mother told the robo-debt royal commission on Monday.

In harrowing testimony, the commission heard that Jennifer Miller’s son, Rhys Cauzzo, took his own life on January 26, 2017. This was after receiving about a dozen letters from Centrelink, as well as several letters, text messages and about a dozen calls from private debt collector Dun & Bradstreet.