Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yesterday we saw the former Prime Minister stand up in the parliament and take absolutely no responsibility for the illegal and devastating robodebt scheme that he presided over. In fact, Mr Morrison tried to make it sound like he was the victim of the robodebt royal commission. Let's remember what robodebt is about. It's about a government—the former government—hounding its own citizens into the ground. It's about the former government harassing its own citizens, pursuing them for debts they did not owe. It's about the former government rolling out an illegal scheme that caused so much stress and distress that it ultimately cost people their lives. People lost their lives, and their mothers and their families live with that grief, while Mr Morrison still sits in the parliament refusing to acknowledge the hurt, refusing to take responsibility and refusing to resign from shame.

It now seems the new Liberal leader has learnt nothing about this disgraceful period of our history either. Today the headlines say that Mr Dutton is 'standing firm behind former prime minister Scott Morrison'. 'Standing firm'. What is the message that Mr Dutton and Mr Morrison have for the victims of robodebt? Is the message that they should just forget about it? Is the message that the Liberal Party think they can just sweep it all under the carpet?

We called the royal commission because robodebt victims and their families deserve justice. We know the victims of robodebt can never forget what their own government did to them. We know the Australian people will never forget, and we will never forget. We will make sure that robodebt can never ever happen again.