Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

I think the member for Calwell for her question. When we set up the robodebt royal commission shortly after coming to government, the degree of dishonesty, shocking lack of probity and lack of integrity of the former Liberal government was already very well known. But the painstaking work of this royal commission has uncovered an even greater degree of wrongdoing than many of us had anticipated. Last week, the member for Fadden revealed to the commission that, while he was the minister responsible in 2019, he had serious doubts about the legality of the robodebt scheme. Despite those doubts, this is what he also revealed: the member for Fadden continued to publicly defend the scheme and use fake statistics that he knew to be false. When asked about this at the royal commission, the member for Fadden said 'cabinet made me do it'. I can reassure this House that there is nothing—

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