Key facts
- The Centre for Public Integrity made eight recommendations, including a mandatory audit and public register of all automated decision-making use.
- It also called for an independent oversight body with powers to monitor, audit and investigate the government over automated decisions.
- The centre said the integrated assessment tool, used to assess home support entitlements for older Australians, routinely under-assesses needs.
- The centre said aged care assessors are banned by the government from overriding incorrect algorithmic decisions.
- Attorney general Michelle Rowland said the government is committed to safe and responsible use of automated decision-making.
- Rowland said the framework will implement robodebt royal commission recommendations and include transparency obligations and human oversight.
The Centre for Public Integrity, an independent thinktank, launched its Computer Says No report on November 4, 2026, examining Australian government use of automated decision-making tools and calling for urgent reform. Its chief executive, Dr Catherine Williams, said the government is sleepwalking into another robodebt scenario because of a lack of transparency and legislation around algorithms and artificial intelligence in decisions.
The centre said Australians may not know whether automated decision-making has been used in decisions affecting them. Among eight recommendations, the report calls for a mandatory audit and public register of all such use, and an independent oversight body with powers to monitor, audit and investigate the government.
Williams said the report grew out of concern about an algorithm in the government's integrated assessment tool, which is used to assess the level of home support older Australians are entitled to. The tool has been found to routinely under-assess people's needs and package entitlements, with aged care assessors banned by the government from overriding incorrect algorithmic decisions, according to the report.
The attorney general's department has been developing an automated decision-making framework, with public consultation ending in January 2025. Attorney general Michelle Rowland did not respond to questions about when a draft framework might be complete and public, but said the government is committed to ensuring safe and responsible use of the tools to deliver timely and efficient services. The framework will implement recommendations from the royal commission into robodebt, she said.
A commonwealth ombudsman report published in October found transparency recommendations from the robodebt royal commission had been ignored by the government in developing and rolling out the integrated assessment tool. Rowland did not respond to questions about whether any framework would be retrospective, but said it will be designed to improve accuracy and consistency of administrative decisions, embed safeguards including transparency obligations, and ensure automated decision-making is used lawfully and with appropriate human oversight.
In September, independent MP Kate Chaney introduced a private member's bill to establish the first legislated, mandatory framework for government use of automated decision-making. She said the attorney general department's consultation finished almost two years ago and that departments make decisions on the tools with little consistency or transparency.