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

There have been more than a hundred witnesses at the royal commission, and broadly you can categorise the tenor of their evidence into two groups: there are those witnesses who gave evidence of courage, integrity and strength, and then there was the evidence of those who were in charge of the scheme. Those in charge of the scheme tended to have memory loss. They tended to blame others. I want to talk about one witness who blamed a very special person in this House. Specifically, the House needs to hear how the member for Fadden blamed the member for Cook for specifically targeting vulnerable cohorts. I rely on the transcript from the royal commission—for the benefit of my friend the Manager of Opposition Business—from page 4235. The member for Fadden explained how the former Prime Minister the member for Cook wanted to include what was referred to as 'vulnerable cohorts' in the robodebt scheme. In this context, 'vulnerable cohorts' meant—

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