1. Executive Summary: The Imperative of Legibility
The relationship between the Australian citizen and the administrative state has entered a critical phase of asymmetry. As the machinery of government and the essential services sectors—banking, telecommunications, energy, and social security—become increasingly digitized and automated, the "legibility" of these systems for the average user has paradoxically declined. We face a Legibility Crisis: a condition where the operational realities of the systems upon which survival depends are obscured by a fog of fragmented reporting, bureaucratic obfuscation, and data silos.
This report outlines the strategic and methodological framework for "The People’s Financial Rulebook" and the construction of "The Common Survival Index" (CSI). The central thesis of this analysis is that no single open dataset currently exists to provide a holistic, comparative view of institutional performance regarding citizen survival. However, the components required to build such an index are already public, lying latent within the fractured ecosystem of annual reports, Senate Estimates Hansard transcripts, tribunal caseload statistics, privacy impact registers, and ombudsman data cubes.
The proposed Common Survival Index is not merely a statistical exercise; it is a mechanism of "Civic Audit." By aggregating disparately published metrics—specifically focusing on Response Speed (The Time Tax), Error Rates (The Justice Gap), Appeal Success (The Vindicatory Rate), Automation Transparency (The Black Box Score), and Hardship Recognition (The Empathy Index)—it is possible to transform bureaucratic exhaust into a platform of civic power.
2. The Anatomy of the Legibility Crisis
The "Legibility Crisis" in Australia is not characterized by a vacuum of information, but rather by a deliberate fragmentation of it. Regulatory bodies and government agencies operate under transparency regimes that mandate the publication of performance data, yet this disclosure is often engineered to satisfy statutory minimums rather than to inform consumer choice or facilitate genuine accountability.
2.1 The Illusion of Transparency and the "Shadow" Dataset
Australian regulators, including ASIC, ACCC, and various industry Ombudsmen, publish vast quantities of data. However, this data is siloed. A citizen cannot easily compare the "error rate" of Centrelink against the "error rate" of a major bank, despite both institutions managing critical financial lifelines.
The data required to construct a true picture of systemic performance exists in what can be termed "Shadow Datasets"—information that is public, but not publicized.
- Senate Estimates Transcripts: Agencies like Services Australia are compelled to reveal granular backlog numbers and "on hand" claim data in Senate hearings that are notably absent from their glossy Annual Reports.
- Tribunal Caseload Statistics: The Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) publishes data on "set aside" rates. This is effectively a raw metric of government error, showing how often a primary decision is overturned by an independent body.
- Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) Registers: These registers serve as an early warning system for new Automated Decision-Making (ADM) systems. They reveal the intent to automate before the algorithm is deployed.
2.2 The Regulatory Fragmentation Defence
The fragmentation of data serves as a defence mechanism for the state and regulated industries. By keeping welfare data separate from banking data, and telecommunications data separate from energy data, the cumulative impact of administrative burden on the poor is hidden. The CSI seeks to unify these distinct data points into a single narrative of "survival friction."
3. Metric A: Response Speed (The Time Tax)
Time is a resource often extracted from the vulnerable by inefficient administrative systems. In the context of the Common Survival Index, we term this "The Time Tax." It measures the duration between a citizen's request for assistance and the institutional outcome.
3.1 The Financial Sector Benchmarks
The financial services sector, monitored by AFCA, provides a baseline for "commercial" response speeds.
- Average Resolution Time: AFCA reported an average time to close a complaint of 74 days.
- Complexity Penalties: Complaints regarding investments and financial advice took an average of 129 days to resolve. This 55-day differential represents a "complexity penalty."
3.2 The Welfare Sector: The Heavy Burden of Waiting
In stark contrast to the financial sector, the "Time Tax" imposed by Services Australia (Centrelink) is severe and often existential.
- The 1.5 Million Claim Backlog: Data extracted from Senate Estimates in mid-2024 revealed a backlog of 1,522,706 claims.
- Disability Support Pension (DSP): The average processing time for a DSP claim was revealed to be 107 days. For a citizen with a disability, waiting over three months for income support is not merely an inconvenience; it is a survival risk.
- JobSeeker Disparities: While JobSeeker claims were processed faster (avg 23 days), the disparity suggests a prioritization of "simple" claims over "complex" needs.
3.3 The Telecommunications Lag
The TIO data reveals a different facet of the Time Tax: the failure of "First Contact Resolution." In 2023-24, the number of complaints returning to the TIO as "unresolved" after a referral to the provider increased by 36.9%.
4. Metric B: Error Rates and Appeal Success (The Justice Gap)
The "Justice Gap" measures the reliability of the initial decision made by an institution. It operates on the premise that a high rate of decisions being overturned on review indicates a systemic failure at the primary decision-making level.
4.1 The Tribunal as Truth-Teller (AAT/ART)
- NDIS Error Rates: In the early reporting period of 2024-25, the decision under review was changed (varied or set aside) in 70% of finalized applications. This suggests the NDIA gets the decision "wrong" in 7 out of 10 appealed cases.
- Centrelink Appeals: Roughly one in three citizens who persist to a second tier of review are vindicated (32% change rate). This confirms that persistence, rather than accuracy, is the filter for justice.
4.2 The Legacy of Robodebt and "False Positives"
The Robodebt Royal Commission found that the government cited a low error rate (approx 1%) based on "clerical data entry," while the actual algorithmic "false positive" rate was estimated to be at least 27%.
4.3 Credit Reporting Correction Rates
Equifax reported a 37.15% success rate for correction requests in 2024-25. Over one-third of consumers who challenged their credit file found an error that required correction.
5. Metric C: Hardship Friction (The Empathy Index)
"Hardship Friction" quantifies the difficulty a citizen faces when attempting to access legally mandated financial hardship provisions.
5.1 The Banking Sector: The Dropout Phenomenon
ASIC’s Report 815 found that 35% of customers dropped out of the hardship assessment process at least once. This "Dropout Rate" is a metric of procedural exclusion. Furthermore, in 40% of cases where assistance was provided, customers fell into arrears immediately after the assistance period ended.
5.2 The Telecommunications Surge
Financial hardship complaints to the TIO increased by 46.1% in 2023-24, the sharpest rise in any category. Mobile services accounted for 66.9% of these complaints.
5.3 Energy and Water: The Bill Shock
Complaints regarding disputed high bills increased by 92% in 2023-24, reflecting the "energy shock" hitting households.
6. Metric D: Automation Transparency (The Black Box Score)
This metric tracks the disclosure, risk assessment, and "explainability" of Automated Decision Making (ADM) systems.
6.1 The Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) Register
The PIA register lists assessments for systems like "Automation of Income Stream Reviews" (Services Australia) and "Fraud analytics" (ATO). The "Black Box Score" measures the gap between the listing of a system and the public release of its operational rules.
6.2 The Jurisdictional Void: Big Tech
The TIO received over 1,500 complaints about digital platforms since 2023, primarily concerning account lockouts. The Ombudsman is "currently unable to help," representing a "Protection Gap" where automated bans by private tech giants are outside the scope of current oversight.
6.3 Data Integrity and Breaches
There were 1,113 data breach notifications in 2024. 69% were caused by malicious or criminal attacks, debunking the "human error" narrative.
7. Metric E: The Shadow Market (NDIS)
The NDIS represents a unique failure of legibility due to the high prevalence of unregistered providers.
- The 94% Unregistered Market: The vast majority of NDIS providers operate outside the direct oversight of the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission.
- Fraud and Prosecution: The NDIA received over 7,000 tip-offs alleging fraud in one quarter, yet only 16 cases (0.22%) were prosecuted. This creates a massive "Data Void" regarding service quality and financial exploitation.
8. The Architecture of Aggregation: Methodology
We propose adapting the methodology of the UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI), but calibrated for "survival" rather than "satisfaction."
8.1 The CSI Weighting Matrix
| Tier | Category | Weight | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Survival Critical | 50% | Failure results in immediate loss of shelter, food, or health. |
| Tier 2 | Financial Integrity | 30% | Failure destroys long-term financial viability. |
| Tier 3 | Due Process | 20% | Failure represents a degradation of civic rights. |
8.2 Calculation Methodology
The Index will assign a Survival Score (0-100) to each major regulated entity. The formula derives from a baseline of 100, subtracting penalties for performance failures.
9. Legal Framework: Ensuring Bulletproof Publication
Publishing the Common Survival Index involves republishing government statistics and critically analyzing private corporations. To remain legally bulletproof, the campaign must navigate Copyright and Defamation laws with precision.
- Copyright and "Fair Dealing": Most federal data is released under CC-BY 4.0. For other material, the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) provides exceptions for "Fair Dealing" for criticism or review.
- Defamation and the "Truth Defence": It is a complete defence to prove that defamatory imputations are "substantially true." By relying strictly on government-published statistics, the Index relies on the regulator's truth.
- Qualified Privilege: The performance of essential services and government agencies is inherently a matter of public interest.
- Parliamentary Privilege: Data extracted from Hansard (Senate Estimates) is protected by Parliamentary Privilege and is the safest data to use.
10. Sector Case Studies: The Index in Action
Services Australia
CRITICAL FAILURE
The "Time Tax" effectively denies support during the crisis period it is meant to alleviate.
The NDIS
SYSTEMIC OPACITY
High resource environment with low legibility. 94% unregistered market share.
Banking (Sample: NAB)
HIGH RISK
"Hardship Friction" remains a critical failure point. High dropout rates in hardship applications.
11. Conclusion: Transforming the Legibility Crisis
The Common Survival Index is a structural intervention in the Australian regulatory state. By aggregating latent state data, "The People’s Financial Rulebook" moves beyond demanding transparency—which the state often provides in the form of overwhelming, illegible data dumps—and enforces legibility.
The data proves that the system is functioning with a specific, observable physics: friction, delay, and error are allocated to those with the least capacity to resist. The 107-day wait for a disability pension, the 35% dropout rate for mortgage hardship, and the 70% error rate in NDIS decisions are not anomalies; they are the baseline operating conditions of the Australian state.
By assembling these facts into a single, irrefutable index, protected by the absolute defences of Truth and Fair Dealing, this campaign creates a mechanism for accountability that legislation alone cannot achieve. It transforms the "Legibility Crisis" into a "Legibility Offensive," handing the tools of audit back to the citizen. The blueprint is ready; the data is waiting.