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

My question is to the Minister for Government Services. I refer to the tragic death of 22-year-old Jarrad Madgwick, who took his own life following a dispute with Centrelink over a robodebt. I ask the following on behalf of his mother, Kath: does the minister still refuse to acknowledge that robodebt contributed to suicides like Jarrad's? Will he arrange for the Prime Minister to meet with Jarrad's mother, Kath, and myself and the Leader of the Opposition to apologise to her?

Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question, and I again caution the House that these matters are delicate when it comes to matters of self-harm and suicide. Whilst I have enormous sympathy for Mrs Madgwick as a grieving mother in this respect, the department will collect in terms of debt recovery almost $5 billion from over a million Australians over the coming 12 and 18 months. There are many reasons why the department collects debts—many, many reasons why—so it is a very complex matter in terms of where it sits, and we should respect that.