Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Member for Lingiari, for your question. At the conclusion of the first week of public hearings of the robodebt royal commission Australians have learned that the previous coalition government received departmental and legal advice that the robodebt scheme was unlawful from its inception. Specifically, Australians have learnt, firstly that, in 2014, at the dawn of the robodebt scheme, the then Liberal-National government received advice from their own lawyers that the scheme was 'likely illegal'. Secondly, we've learned that the former Department of Social Services director of payments and integrity, who was responsible for seeking the 2014 internal legal advice, had warned that income averaging to raise welfare debts was 'likely unlawful'. He said he and his team were almost immediately concerned about the proposal, which he also described as 'unethical'. The same official said that the DSS legal advice was 'black and white'. It should have ended the proposal. Indeed, he likened the robodebt scheme to be Dallas buyers club scam of speculative invoicing of unsuspecting victims. Thirdly, we've learned that in 2018 top law firm Clayton Utz provided advice that the scheme was not able to be justified.

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