TV production company CJZ will create a documentary-drama series based on the robodebt scandal after securing funding from SBS’s new factual development fund.
The immersive series will explore the impact of the Liberal Party-backed scheme which clawed back $1.8 billion from over half-a-million social welfare recipients allegedly rorting the system between 2015 and 2019. The scandal resulted in Australia’s largest class action, with a Royal Commission later finding the scheme was “crude and cruel” and “neither fair nor legal”.
CJZ creative director Michael Cordell said the series, which has the working title ROBODEBT, will break new storytelling ground.
“Robodebt inflicted a tsunami of pain on hundreds of thousands of ordinary Australians accused of having fictitious debts,” he said. “We’re excited to be telling this story with an innovative combination of hard-nosed factual and high-end drama to push the limits of contemporary storytelling.”
SBS director of television Kathryn Fink said the SBS development fund aimed to unearth a series “unlike anything seen on Australian screens before”.
“ROBODEBT will reveal the fight for justice by some of the most vulnerable people in our society. We’re excited to be working with CJZ on this series, which will shine a much-needed spotlight on this unprecedented chapter in recent Australian history.”
SBS’s factual development fund offers up to $50,000 in funding. CJZ has previously produced series such as the International Emmy Award-winning Go Back to Where You Came From.
ROBODEBT is set to be directed by Ben Lawrence (Ithaka, Hearts and Bones), while Jane Allen (Janet King, Cleverman, Last King of the Cross, Troppo, The Secret Life of Us) will serve as writer and script producer.