Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Government Services. How is the Albanese Labor government formally responding to the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme, and how does this compare to other responses to the royal commission?

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

Today, the Albanese government has formally responded to all 56 recommendations of the robodebt royal commission. Robodebt, as members of the House will know, was a cruel and crude mechanism. It was neither fair nor legal. It made many people feel like criminals. It was costly in both human and economic terms. So, today, the Albanese government says, 'Never again.' We have already ceased the use of debt collection agencies for debt recovery in Services Australia. We've stopped the reverse onus of proof. We have stopped treating people who use our social security safety net as second-class cheats. Last week, we announced 3,000 new jobs on the front line of Services Australia to help people process their claims and calls.

We can say, 'Never again,' but Australians can't have robojustice until the opposition join us in a full-throated apology. To be fair, some in the opposition have shown courage. The member for Menzies said:

As someone who's a Liberal and believes in the sanctity of the individual, due process and the presumption of innocence, it offended all of those. It was illiberal, it reversed the onus and it hurt people.

The member for Flinders said:

… it is now apparent that the expanded compliance system … now known as robodebt, is one of the poorest chapters in Australia's public policy history and one that sits at the feet of the coalition in its time of government.

Senator Paterson said it was 'incredibly regrettable'. He said:

It should not have happened …

He also said:

We have to learn these lessons. It was a government that I was a member of, and I really regret that it happened.

But, so far, the Leader of the Opposition has not taken the high road, as some of his colleagues have. Rather, last August he took the low road and accused the royal commission of morphing into a 'witch hunt'. The victims of robodebt have noticed the deafening silence and the truculent refusal of a full-throated of apology by the Leader of the Opposition. You cannot have justice for Australians and the promise that never again will it occur when the potential alternative government doesn't own the problem. You cannot have justice for the victims unless there is a guarantee that it won't be repeated again and that the lessons have been learnt. However, the Leader of the Opposition, so far, has given no sign of fully owning the disaster which was robodebt.

We all know the difference between a standard politician's apology—'If you are offended, I'm sorry'—and a real one. So it's time, Member for Dickson, for a real apology today in the parliament—right here, right now. Copy your courageous backbenchers, own the sins of the coalition and stop airbrushing history.