The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (the department) will invite people who may have experienced detriment arising from a potentially unlawful payment cancellation to claim for compensation through the Compensation for Detriment caused by Defective Administration (CDDA) scheme.
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In addition to meeting the requirements and obligations of the CDDA scheme and the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013, the department will apply the following principles to the compensation activity:
Person-centric – acknowledging that the department was at fault, processes will be transparent, simple and trusting – recognising that many impacted people are culturally and linguistically diverse, First Nations people, or may have multiple vulnerabilities and barriers including disability, caring responsibilities, and low literacy and numeracy skills. If there is doubt about a person’s eligibility for compensation, the department will take an empathetic approach and send them an invitation to claim.
Trauma-informed – nuanced communications materials and limited evidentiary requirements to seek to limit re-traumatising impacted people. Processes will be informed by safety by design principles, to safeguard the compensation process against perpetrators of family and domestic violence. The department will strive to minimise the bureaucratic burden on impacted people and not require them to complete an application duplicating information already held in departmental systems. People’s personal and private information will be treated sensitively and in accordance with the requirements under the RMG409 - Scheme for Compensation for Detriment caused by Defective Administration CDDA Scheme, and the Australian Privacy Principles outlined in the privacy protection framework from the Privacy Act 1988.
Simplified and streamlined – the department acknowledges that in some cases, these decisions occurred more than 5 years ago. The department will send clear and accessible communications products that detail what the cancellation was for, when it occurred and what steps a person needs to take to claim for compensation. Evidence requirements will be kept to the minimum standards necessary to assess a claim fairly and responsibly, and will be proportional to the size of compensation claimed. Claims will be assessed on their merits and paid in a timely manner.
Claiming for additional losses – the invitation to claim will include the ability to claim and provide evidence upfront for additional detriment for direct financial detriment and non-economic loss stemming from the payment cancellation. All additional detriment claims will be assessed on their merits, with only the minimum necessary evidence being required to support a claim.
Providing support and assistance – the department recognises that people may want or need more personal support to submit a claim for compensation, and as a principle we want to ensure that people who were disadvantaged by defective administration are compensated accordingly. The department has provided funding to Economic Justice Australia to support participants through the coordination, development and dissemination of information about the compensation process across the community legal sector and the broader community, including referral pathways for complex cases. The department will simplify communications materials to ensure they are clear on what is required to submit a claim for compensation.