https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/y3zkgb/the-story-of-how-the-australian-government-screwed-its-most-vulnerable-people-v27n3 > In a typical fictional dystopia, one might find a few common features: a bureaucratic government, a malevolent computer program, and an isolated and fearful public. > A version of this scenario took place in Australia between 2016, when the conservative-leaning government automated its system for raising debts against people who had received government assistance and allegedly been overpaid, and this year, when the government pledged to pay back $721 million that it stole from nearly 400,000 of the country's most vulnerable people. In total, more than 700,000 Australians received letters notifying them that the system had identified a debt that they owed, unless they could prove otherwise.