Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, please, Deputy Speaker. I just want to say, through you, to the minister: I do get some comfort from your response to my amendment, and I am prepared to put my trust in you and what you've just said—that you are progressing and working on all of the recommendations of the robodebt royal commission. It had been my intention to call a division on this amendment, and I will now not be seeking that division. I would add, though: the country is watching. The country was outraged by robodebt and is looking to the government to move as quickly as it humanly can to implement those recommendations, in particular to bring that time limit on the recovery of debts into line with all the other time limits we have in this country.

I make the point again of an example I gave 10 years ago about someone. Heavens—the company they worked for possibly doesn't even exist anymore. They can't get payslips. I remember, during the furore of robodebt when it first blew up, talking to a constituent who, over the period that Services Australia were asking for documentation, had held four jobs, and two of those companies didn't exist anymore. The weight is on the government, but I put my trust in the minister. Hopefully, this can be resolved as quickly as possible.

Question negatived.

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