Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Government Services. Who did the royal commission into robodebt conclude stopped robodebt?

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

In recent days there have many who've claimed to have stopped robodebt. Last week, the member for Cook claimed he stopped robodebt. He said:

… I closed the scheme down during the operational phases of the scheme when the issues and unintended consequences first arose.

But he's not the first former coalition Liberal minister to now claim credit for stopping robodebt. Stuart Robert, the former member for Fadden, also famously claimed credit in this place. He curiously didn't credit the member for Cook for it! Whilst the commission doesn't deal with the member for Cook's claim that he stopped robodebt—presumably because no-one except the member for Cook thought that he would ever say that!—Commissioner Holmes did have something to say about Mr Robert's claims. She found the evidence provided to the commission by Mr Robert on this point to be less compelling. She continues that Mr Robert was informed of the existence of AGS advice warning of a potential illegality on 4 July 2019. And, for the record, Mr Robert decisively acted five months later!

But, not to be outdone, there's another former Liberal robodebt minister who has also popped his head up to claim credit; it's the former member for Aston, Alan Tudge. Breaking the habit of 15 years of parliament, I read the Spectator last week—it was actually sent to me. Mr Tudge outs himself that he effectively stopped robodebt by removing all the bad parts of the scheme. He writes, 'I paused the raising of debts,' and he lists some other areas which he changed. He then essentially asserts that after his interventions there was nothing bad to see here. For the record, I remind Mr Tudge that after he civilised robodebt it went for three more years. There were 156 AAT decisions that the DHS were wrong because robodebt used averaging to calculate the debt, and there were many articles. In fact, between 2017 and June 2020, hundreds of thousands of people were still robodebted. Nonetheless, if Mr Tudge wants to claim credit for stopping it, well done!

But who really did end the illegal robodebt scheme? I'll draw attention now to the words of the royal commissioner. She congratulates Madeleine Masterton and Deanna Amato. These are individual citizens who took on the federal government. She says:

The litigation in Masterton and Amato, in both cases conducted by Victoria Legal Aid, played a crucial role in the demise of the Scheme.

The royal commission concludes:

It succeeded in exposing the illegality of Robodebt where other possible forms of check on the Scheme … did not …

So, to be perfectly clear and answer the question, those opposite did not stop robodebt until the legal system forced them. And now the Leader of the Opposition has to decide whether he will agree with the royal commission's findings or he will keep white-anting the royal commission, showing that those opposite have learnt nothing. (Time expired)