Albanese alleges lack of contrition over Robodebt

| July 9, 2023

The fallout from Robodebt continues, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese accusing predecessor Scott Morrison of lacking contrition over the affair.

Federal police and the national anti-corruption watchdog are considering civil and criminal evidence against unnamed individuals in relation to the tarnished debt collection scheme run by the Morrison government.

A report tabled in parliament on Friday found certain former coalition ministers dismissed or ignored concerns about the legality of the scheme but that has been rejected by those in question.

Mr Morrison was among those singled out, accused of misleading cabinet.

However he has rejected any suggestion of wrongdoing, saying the findings of the Robodebt royal commission are “based upon a fundamental misunderstanding of how government operates”. 

Mr Albanese said on Saturday it wasn’t his place to decide what action should be taken against the former prime minister.

“But I do note … that Scott Morrison has also shown no contrition whatsoever for the impact that his actions as minister have had,” he said in Perth.

“And I do note very serious findings of the royal commissioner about his evidence before the royal commission.”

In accordance with proper process, Mr Albanese said that a sealed section of the royal commission report which related to the referral of individuals to authorities had not been provided to him by Commissioner Catherine Holmes.

Earlier on Saturday, Government Services Minister Bill Shorten said the findings would be “the political tombstone” of those responsible.

“It’s the right of Mr Morrison and his former ministerial colleagues to say they did nothing wrong,” he told Nine’s Today Show.

“But I actually think the facts contradict their narrative.”

Mr Shorten also told the Seven Network the royal commission had revealed “political cowardice, incompetence and venality”.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s response was that Mr Shorten had attempted to take advantage of the inquiry from day one.

“He’s a political animal and he’s used every opportunity to milk out whatever political advantage there is to the Labor Party out of this particular issue and the prime minister’s doing the same,” Mr Dutton said.

More than 100 ministers, advisers, public servants and contractors gave evidence to the royal commission.

Commissioner Holmes’ outlines a litany of human impacts, including families struggling to make ends meet and young people driven to despair and suicide.

The former government launched its crackdown on “suspected welfare fraud and non-compliance” in 2015 in an effort to save billions of dollars.

It issued debt notices to people identified through a process called income averaging, which compared reported incomes with tax office data.

The scheme was ruled unlawful by the Federal Court in 2019 after issues were raised by Victoria Legal Aid.

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