The Feed Is Here To Help The Government Give Robodebt A Sexy New Makeover

Robodebt has a bad reputation, on account of being a Draconian system that punishes Australia’s most vulnerable citizens while also being utterly broken and possibly illegal.

An automated, computer-led system that matched Centrelink payments against income declarations held by the Australian Tax Office, robodebt hounded innocent Australians, making them believe that they had massive bills — many of which turned out to be fraudulent.

On top of that, there’s the fact that Centrelink is notoriously hard to get in touch with — some have waited countless hours to try and establish contact with the government and chase up a fine that they didn’t know they had to pay. Then there’s the pattern of “harassment, coercion and unconscionable conduct” that defined the agency’s practices when it came to collecting these mostly ersatz debts.

Basically, the whole thing was a mess, and the worst kind of mess — one that put Australians at risk of genuine harm.

Enter The Feed from stage right, and their pair of savvy marketing gurus, played by Jenna Owen and Victoria Zerbst.

At the start of the sketch, the pair lay out the challenge ahead of them, working out the first impressions they get when they think of robodebt.

“I’m getting these dystopian vibes in which the government is able to prey on the fear and vulnerability of individuals using a robot that lacks essential information,” says Owen.

“Well that’s completely wrong,” shoots back Zerbst. “Because what we have is a government who’s praying upon the fears and vulnerabilities of individuals using an algorithm that lacks essential information.”

From there, the sketch only gets more barbed, touching on the government’s wanton greed, refusal to properly tax big corporations, and steadfast belief that this inhumane practice is literally the only route that they could ever take.

Watch it in full below.