Submission to the ANAO investigation into Services Australia’s management of automated decision-making | September 2026

Services Australia does not exercise meaningful oversight of processes and decisions – neither
those partially nor fully automated – that delay, reduce or cancel a person’s welfare payment as a
result of penalties issued under the Targeted Compliance Framework. The Targeted compliance framework, which has recently come under scrutiny by the Commonwealth Ombudsman, is the engine of the penalty system for Services Australia and Department of Employment and Workplace
Relations, who are inextricably linked by the compliance framework. Currently a number of provisions in the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 are supposed to be paused due to the discovery of processes and systems that were resulting in unlawful payment cancellations.

You can read our submission in full below and find our related media release here.