Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Dolega, for the supplementary. The settlement we have reached, which is subject to court approval, will make $475 million available to compensate those affected by the unlawful robodebt scheme. In addition to that, when we look at the total costs, the coalition, when in government, using this scheme to balance their budget, told taxpayers it would save them $4.7 billion, but in the end it cost over half a billion dollars, not counting the money refunded. To break this down, the scheme was budgeted to save $4.7 billion. It only delivered a saving of $406 million, if you'd like to call it that, and it cost $971 million to implement. That gives you a bit of an idea of the failed budget strategy, in addition to the huge and devastating human cost. The Commonwealth agreed to a $1.8 billion settlement over the illegal scheme, covering the repayments of debts totalling $1.76 billion and the initial class action of $112 million.