The cases / Consulting / government
Deloitte's A$440,000 welfare-compliance report quoted a judgment paragraph that doesn't exist
Report published July 2025; refund reported October 2025.
What the AI said
'Justice Davis' said in Amato v Commonwealth, at paragraphs 25 and 26, that 'The burden rests on the decision-maker...'. It also cited papers including 'The Rule of Law and Administrative Justice in the Australian Social Security System'.
What was actually true
The judge is Justice Davies, and her consent orders have no paragraph 25 or 26. The cited papers don't exist.
Cost or impact
Deloitte repaid about A$98,000 of the A$440,000 fee and reissued the report with corrected references. DEWR said the recommendations were unchanged.
Who caught it
Chris Rudge, University of Sydney welfare academic; reported by Paul Karp in the Australian Financial Review.
Check that would have caught it Our analysis
source citation. Open every cited paragraph and confirm the quote is there before the report ships.
This is our judgment, not something the sources say. How we assign it.
Sources
- accountingtimes.com.auhttps://www.accountingtimes.com.au/technology/deloitte-to-refund-government-after-using-ai-in-440k-report
- afr.comhttps://www.afr.com/companies/professional-services/deloitte-repays-almost-98-000-of-its-440-000-fee-for-ai-error-report-20251009-p5n16f
- greens.org.auhttps://greens.org.au/news/media-release/greens-slam-deloittes-unethical-behaviour-and-measly-refund-over-ai-report
Links last checked Oct 24, 2026. If something here is wrong, send a correction.