Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Wills for his question. I am truly saddened to hear Cathy's story. All of us in this place have heard many stories like Cathy's. Many of our constituents all over Australia have told us about their own unconscionable experience of robodebt. The truth is that the former Liberal government's robodebt scheme was not only wrong and unethical but also against the law.

The member for Wills asked me why the robodebt royal commission is important for working Australians like his constituent Cathy. The robodebt royal commission was a key election commitment which we wasted no time in putting in place. It's important that the events which led to this cruel scheme are fully exposed, with the powers that only a royal commission has, so that those responsible are held to account, and even more importantly so that we can make sure that this never happens again.

In just the first weeks of hearings, it has been uncovered that the Department of Social Services first became aware that robodebt was potentially unlawful in 2014. But once it found favour with the former Prime Minister, the Member for Cook, it was full steam ahead. In 2016, and we've already heard this from the Prime Minister—

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