Debt collectors face calls to return $11.6m retrieved under unlawful robodebt scheme

Figure paid by federal government for private collection services described as shameful'

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Corporate debt collectors are facing calls to return more than $11m in taxpayers' money they earned by chasing down welfare recipients for debts raised under the unlawful robodebt scheme.

The royal commission's report on Friday was damning about the involvement of private debt collection firms in the program, who were paid commissions for retrieving money from welfare recipients.

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