Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

'I didn't know. It wasn't my fault. Nobody told me.' That is the defence that former Liberal ministers, including the member for Cook, have been rolling out in the wake of the damning findings of the robodebt royal commission. But they did know, it was their fault and they were told. In January 2017 the then Labor opposition formally requested that the then Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, halt robodebt. The scheme didn't end until November 2019, nearly three years later.

When the member for Cook got up on Monday to dismiss the royal commission's findings and complain about his treatment I could not believe my ears. The government he was part of and later led literally drove vulnerable people to their deaths, but he would have us believe that he is the victim. No, Member for Cook: the real victims of robodebt are the thousands of Australians who were demonised and harassed to repay money they never owed, including in my electorate: 500 people in Brighton, 300 in Derwent Valley, 140 in Sorell, more than 250 in the Meander Valley and 1,000 from other council areas. These people should have been able to trust their government but were betrayed by the holders of the most powerful offices in the land.

The Leader of the Opposition has chosen to support the member for Cook and continue that betrayal of robodebt's real victims. It's disappointing but not surprising. This is a Liberal opposition that has learned nothing. The royal commission didn't mince words. Its findings are clear. They did know. It was their fault. They were told. And they're being held to account. (Time expired).