Mary Doyle (Aston, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. What did the royal commission find about the robodebt scheme? How does this government's approach to helping vulnerable Australians differ?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Aston for her question, and note that she's the best member for Aston we've had for some time in this place. She understands that robodebt will forever stand as one of the worst policy failures by any Australian government. It was a deliberate policy to hound Australians—not an accident and not a mistake. It was one that was accompanied by threats in this chamber to hunt people down—to hunt people down!

We know that it made an enormous difference to so many Australians, who were the most vulnerable. We know, as well, that it was raised in this chamber day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. Those opposite knew that it was an illegal scheme, but that didn't stop them still pursuing some of the most vulnerable people in our society. It was a shocking abuse of trust that was exposed by the royal commission.

People like Melanie Klieve told the royal commission: 'I had to sell everything I could sell just to get a little bit by. I had to go to the Salvation Army for the first time ever in my life, and it was quite degrading. It made me feel like I was a criminal. I never want to deal with Centrelink ever again.' This is the pathology of those opposite, the party of robodebt; cutting the humans out of Human Services and replacing them with a system that sent people notices and threats for debts which they did not owe. They ripped the social justice out of Social Services. The same ideology that produced robodebt still drives them today. The Leader of the Opposition has nothing positive to offer Australia: no plan and no solutions to the challenges facing the country. It's just saying no and opposing change.

We know that many people out there are doing it tough, which is why we've had cost-of-living relief, including cheaper medicines, which have saved $200 million on 17 million scripts in the first 10 months of this year. We've invested in affordable housing, including for women and children escaping domestic violence. We legislated energy bill relief for five million households. We invested in fee-free TAFE after a decade of cuts and neglect. All of those measures they opposed. Those opposite continue to show a total disregard for people who are doing it tough—just punishment, blame and vindictiveness. They never miss an opportunity to stand in the way of supporting those people who are the most vulnerable. (Time expired)