Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Of all the disgraceful scandals and rorts of the previous government, robodebt was right at the top—fake debt notices to Australians for money they did not owe. The Federal Court found it was illegal. It destroyed lives. I sat helping numerous people in my office who were pursued by debt collectors for money they did not owe. The shocking revelations of the robodebt royal commission make clear the depths of the previous government's guilt.

The Public Service told the Liberals that robodebt was unlawful, but that didn't stop them. Lawyers warned them repeatedly that robodebt was against the law, but on they charged. Right from the start, in 2014, the Liberals were told that robodebt was likely illegal, clear advice that income averaging to raise welfare debts was unethical, and black-and-white legal advice said that robodebt should now be scrapped. In 2018 top law firm Clayton Utz gave catastrophic advice that robodebt couldn't be justified. But nothing would stop the Liberals. Vulnerable Australians paid the price for their crooked scheme: a $1.8 billion court settlement, in the end.

It's only the first week of the royal commission but those responsible still sit in this parliament—leftovers, the dregs of the former government. They should front the royal commission then quit in disgrace. Scott Morrison, Stuart Robert, Alan Tudge, Paul Fletcher, Dan Tehan—the whole rotten lot of you.