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

And I'll take that interjection from the opposition, where they try and say that everyone was doing it, so what was the problem? In fact, Her Honour went to these Liberal speaking points. She didn't call them that. She said, 'What changed in the implementation of the robodebt scheme in 2016 was that the Department of Human Services used an automated process to demand information from current and former recipients on a scale not previously attempted.' She further said: 'They sought the information going back years and the department proceeded to use debt recovery powers without any further attempt to substantiate the alleged debt.'

This royal commission is important. It is about justice for people who were unlawfully treated by the then government. I have no doubt that this royal commission will make sure that that shame never happens again, and those responsible will be held to account.

See this speech in context