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

During his evidence to the commission, the member for Aston acknowledged that (1) he was responsible for the administration of the robodebt scheme between February 2016 and December 2017, (2) he knew that robodebt produced inaccurate debt notices, (3) he did not think to raise questions about the legality of the scheme for the duration of his time as the minister, (4) he requested the personal files of 52 Centrelink recipients who had complained in the media in the period between Christmas 2016 and January 2017, and (5) he did think, however, to get legal advice about accessing the personal files of the 52 public complainants, as opposed to seeking advice as to the lawfulness of the whole scheme. The member for Aston did pay forensic attention to people complaining about the scheme but never the complaints. He investigated the messengers but never the message. Furthermore, when the minister was asked about his responsibility, he shifted responsibility for the scheme to the former Prime Minister, former Treasurer and former finance minister for prioritising and finding savings. He also shifted responsibility for not understanding the illegality of the scheme to senior public servants, one of whom is now deceased. Further, he said that he had no visibility of the scheme—

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