Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Government Services. What has the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme uncovered about the inaccuracy of the unlawful robodebt system?

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

I thank the member for his question. Members of the House may be interested to know that there's an important pattern of evidence emerging from the royal commission into robodebt, in that the previous government and its various ministers were frequently, repeatedly and numerously warned over an extended period of years of problems with the robodebt scheme, yet the unlawful, illegal scheme continued.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will resume his seat. I will hear from the Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order.

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I've raised with you, on a number of occasions, the danger that the conduct of the Minister for Government Services, in repeatedly reporting on the proceedings of the royal commission, is doing in terms of the overall status of the royal commission. I've referred particularly to Speaker Snedden's ruling that it raises the real threat of influencing the commission, and I make this further point, which is that the damage is greater with each successive time that this minister offends against the well-established protocols of this House.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Assistant Treasurer will cease interjecting. I'd like to hear the Leader of the House in silence.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To the point of order, if I can provide an example slightly more recent than Billy Snedden: when the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption was on, there were 56 questions that were asked on the floor of the chamber. The practice of being able to ask and answer questions of this nature has been very well established.

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Hoist by your own petard!

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Moreton is warned. When I'm about to give a ruling is definitely not the time to interject. In relation to the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme, my approach has been to allow evidence to the commission which has been publicly reported to be referred to in the House. But what I am less comfortable with is putting a construction on the evidence or the drawing of conclusions about the conduct of individuals who are parties to the proceedings. I therefore ask all members, including the minister, to refrain from doing this when speaking about this royal commission in the House.

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

I wish to specifically draw the attention of the House to some of the following evidence and exhibits in the royal commission revealing the warnings that were not acted upon: exhibit 3064, meeting with ACOSS, 29 November 2016; exhibit 4649, letter from former senator Nick Xenophon on 4 December 2016; exhibit 4641, media release from the member for Clark dated 6 December 2016; exhibit 4648, constituent representations also raised by the member for Clark in December 2016; exhibit 4648, data validation process that DHS briefed the member for Aston on in December 2016; exhibit 4652, Centrelink officer who blew the whistle to the media on 23 December; exhibit 4654, letter from the National Council of Single Mothers and their Children on 30 December; exhibit 4732, further correspondence warning on the scheme; exhibit 2532, an email from a Centrelink compliance officer to the secretary of the former minister's department on 7 February 2017.

There were protests from robodebt victims directly to the member for Aston's office. In addition, a literature search reveals literally tens of thousands of articles in the media. It's been revealed in the commission that the minister investigated the personal files of 52 complainants, but not the actual complaints about the legality of the robodebt scheme. There were 19,780 internal reviews by people within the system complaining about robodebt. There were 4,339 external reviews to the AAT related to robodebt. There was an ongoing campaign, which was recorded by the then opposition in the parliament, and other parties in the media. There was exhibit 4775, the missing $1 million PricewaterhouseCoopers commissioned report. Even a ParlInfo search reveals 713 mentions of robodebt in Hansardbetween 7 February 2017 and 12 November 2020. Australians listening to this question time will be justifiably perplexed and outraged as to why these warnings failed to have the scheme stopped. Perhaps one answer is that the four coalition ministers who've appeared have said, on no fewer than 140 occasions between them, 'I don't recall,' or some variation of that. When the ministers don't recall what was happening, what chance do the robo-victims have?