Matt Burnell (Spence, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to put on Hansard that maybe the member for Bradfield should read the good member for Menzies's contribution. That was a fine contribution in this House.

In my list of thanks, I would like to thank the member for Jagajaga for moving a motion in this place on an issue of such importance not just to the people of Australia but to the people of my electorate of Spence. Through the sad, sorry saga better known as robodebt, we had over 6,300 victims in my electorate of Spence. That number was multiplied further by the families affected by vicariously living through their ordeal at the hands of the previous government. Without indicating that this is by any means over, I would like to thank the Minister for Government Services and the Attorney-General for their unwavering efforts to disinfect this dark chapter of Australia's history with a dose of sunlight.

I would like to thank the former members for Aston, Fadden and Pearce—although not in the same manner as I have above. Despite this not being the only point of controversy that brought about the ends of their political careers, to an extent they would inevitably have seen the writing on the wall at some point throughout the robodebt time line, no matter how late, and they realised that their actions were not compatible with being a member of this place, let alone a minister. This is not an issue that is a partisan attack, despite what some in the opposition and some elements of the media would have you think. This is not Liberal versus Labor. In the time I have known the current members for Aston and Pearce, I have developed a strong feeling that they would do so much better than their predecessors. For that matter, I would like to express exactly the same hope for the newly elected member for Fadden as well.

Then there is the member for Cook. For some out in the community, it is a fact that they have a family member who is no longer with us, as a constant and eternal reminder of robodebt—something that will haunt them forever, something that nobody can take back and rectify. For others, seeing the member for Cook still sitting in this place feels like nothing more than a slap in the face. In this 47th Parliament, the member for Cook has delivered five speeches, three of which were nothing more than him defending himself against any number of scandals during his time as minister and, indeed, as Prime Minister.

I note that the Leader of the Opposition called a royal commission into robodebt nothing more than a political witch-hunt, which is what one must do when one is harbouring a coven within one's party room. It is one of the most systemic failures of government, coupled with the most egregious examples of those who have been found wanting by the final report having made every attempt to shirk any responsibility for the part they played whilst holding some of the highest offices in this land.

Despite the lack of responsibility shown by the ministers who were at the coalface of the scheme, I would like to thank the brave victims of robodebt, families of robodebt victims, advocates and whistleblowers for coming forward, either to the royal commission itself or in the years leading up to this reckoning through all channels leading from the electoral offices of our local members of parliament—those are sometimes the best way to get the word up the food chain that something is seriously wrong. 'Seriously wrong' is an absolute understatement. Despite that, when in government all the way to now, those opposite did everything they could to downplay this—and I'm not talking about subjective things like undermining the role of the royal commission itself. I'm talking about the mistruths and using lines like, 'Robodebt was something used by governments on all sides,' or that it was in fact set up by the Minister for Government Services himself when in government. This is completely misleading all and sundry, or at least attempting to.

The fact is that they knowingly tweaked the system that was used to help identify debts and then be checked by staff members. Instead, they had a scheme that took the human element out of it entirely. A computer punched out a debt notice, it was sent out to the unknowing victim of the robodebt and the onus was placed on them to prove their innocence. Some of these alleged debts could have been from years ago, meaning they were stuck having to find old payslips and bank statements, often at a cost to themselves, just to try to get this debt to go away.

The moral of this story is that when you take the human element out of government, bad things can happen. We can't forget that lesson lightly, especially when we know that these acts and omissions by many senior figures in government and the public service at the time had a human cost attached to them. This is something that nobody should ever forget. I thank the House.

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