Centrelink hounded man over false debt before his death by suicide

Centrelink sent a man with a history of anxiety and panic attacks 12 letters falsely alleging he owed them more than $17,000 before transferring him to a debt collector. The man later died by suicide.

Centrelink was aware Rhys Cauzzo had a history of mental ill-health but the 28-year-old was still hounded for months by the department and debt collectors to repay $17,000 they illegally claimed he owed, an inquiry has heard.

And in the aftermath of his death by suicide on January 26, 2017 the department allegedly actively hid information which would have shown they knew he was vulnerable and how the debt was raised from Mr Cauzzo’s mother, journalists who pursued the matter, and the Victorian Coroner.

Mr Cauzzo’s mother, Jennifer Miller, was also told by Coalition government human services Minister Alan Tudge at the time that a review had found the case had been handled “appropriately” with only “minor” administrative errors.

Jennifer Miller with her son Rhys who received 12 letters and had between five or six phone calls from Centrelink.

The evidence was presented on Monday to the Royal Commission into the unlawful Centrelink recovery scheme known as Robodebt, which ran from 2015 to November 2019 and culminated with a $1.8bn settlement to hundreds of thousands of victims.

The inquiry is working to establish how and why the program - which illegally garnished $720m from 380,000 victims - came to be and kept going despite numerous red flags suggesting it was unlawful.

Ms Miller told the inquiry she had pursued the injustice of what happened to her son for years but confirmed she had only recently, through evidence uncovered by the inquiry, learnt the “extraordinary” lengths of the department to discredit her.

“When I was first seeing a lot of this information it certainly broke my heart because I felt like I had let Rhys down… but he was certainly let down by the system,” Ms Miller said.

Mr Cauzzo, a part-time florist and musician, was “creative” and had moved from Cairns to Melbourne with mates in 2009 as they chased the “music and artistic vibes” of the city.

He had a history of mental ill-health including depression, anxiety and panic attacks - all of which Centrelink was aware of including through a job capacity assessment he’d sought in 2016 due to his mental health.

Jennifer Miller gave evidence at the Robodebt Royal Commission in Brisbane. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

Still Centrelink sent him 12 letters between May and October 2016 falsely alleging he owed them more than $17,000, with debt collectors following that up with six letters, two text messages and 13 phone calls between November 2016 and January 2017.

The inquiry heard that When Ms Miller wrote to Mr Tudge in 2017 asking why her son was pursued for the debt even though he was mentally vulnerable, she was told a review had found the department had acted “appropriately, professionally and sensitively”.

Ms Miller, in the aftermath of her son’s death, began pursuing information from the department, with a particular focus on how her son’s debt was calculated.

The royal commission was told Mr Cauzzo’s debt had been calculated using the unlawful income averaging method and it was posthumously zeroed.

The Victoria Coroner, at the behest of Ms Miller, began asking questions of the department as part of an investigation into Mr Cauzzo’s death in 2018.

An email from the department’s chief counsel at the time Annette Musolino in 2018 outlined how public servants planned not to front up information which would have ultimately outlined Mr Cauzzo’s mental vulnerability.

Senior counsel assisting Justin Greggery KC, noting Ms Miller had only seen this information recently, asked her about its significance.

“(It shows) they just weren’t going to give them the information. It’s clear,” she said.

The royal commission, helmed by Catherine Holmes AC SC, started its final of four blocks of hearings on February 20.

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