Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Senator Kitching, for your question on this matter. I state at the outset that, given this matter is currently before the courts, I'm extremely mindful that anything that I might say could have legal implications and so I cannot provide any further comment on anything specifically relating to the legal aspects of this matter.

What I can say is that this government is acting to repay these people. In fact, if I remember correctly, the Minister for Government Services, Stuart Robert, did a press conference on 19 November last year where he made the announcement that the government was intending to pause its debt recovery using income averaging as its sole reason for raising the debt.