The Commonwealth Ombudsman has called on agencies to place stronger checks around automated decision-making after finding that the Department of Home Affairs unlawfully cancelled a man’s bridging visa, leaving his family without income for two months.
The case concerned a man referred to as Mr D, who had successfully challenged a decision not to grant him a protection visa. Despite that outcome, Home Affairs systems incorrectly registered the matter as a failed challenge, triggering an automated process that cancelled his Bridging Visa A. The cancellation meant Mr D was suspended from work and his family went without financial support for several weeks.
Ombudsman Iain Anderson said the cancellation was both unlawful and unreasonable, urging the department to apologise and compensate Mr D for the hardship he and his family experienced. The investigation found that the department had also wrongly rejected two further applications by Mr D for a bridging visa before the error was corrected.
Six recommendations were made to Home Affairs, including a review of how tribunal and court outcomes are recorded, improvements to system checks and an assessment of why the error took more than two months to be resolved when it should have been straightforward. The Ombudsman also asked Home Affairs to inform Mr D of the process for applying for compensation under the scheme that covers defective administration.
Home Affairs accepted all recommendations and has apologised to Mr D.
Mr Anderson said the case should serve as a reminder to the wider Australian Public Service to examine their use of automated decision-making. He emphasised the need for safeguards to ensure errors are not left unchecked when decisions carry serious consequences for individuals and their families.
The report, tabled under the Ombudsman Act 1976, is available on the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s website.
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