Govt pressured departments over robodebt despite legal concerns
Government departments faced pressure from former Social Services Minister Scott Morrison’s office to finalise its welfare debt recovery policy despite concerns over its legality, a royal commission has heard.
Photo: Tony Lewis/InDaily
The commission is investigating the robodebt debacle which falsely accused welfare recipients of owing the government money.
Department of Social Services principal lawyer Anne Pulford gave evidence on Wednesday as the commission seeks to find out how the robodebt program proceeded despite known legal issues with the way debts would be calculated.
Former prime minister Scott Morrison was social services minister at the time of the scheme’s establishment and rollout.
In a draft brief provided to Pulford for review in 2015, director Catherine Dalton asked what action needed to be taken to resolve the legal issues with the proposal.
Pulford said the time frames were “tight” for her team to properly consider the brief.
Asked if the time pressure appeared to be coming from Morrison so the proposal could be submitted to the finance department in time for the 2015 budget, Pulford said “correct”.
Pulford said in developing policy, departments provide advice and clarify risks for the government which then decides whether to go ahead with the proposal.
“Essentially they (the government) take into account the risks and decide how they’re going to proceed,” she said.
Rolled out in 2015, the program recovered more than $750 million from almost 400,000 people with debt notices issued by a process called income averaging.
This automated process compared people’s reported income with tax office figures.
Yet in emails presented to the commission, senior public servants were aware in 2014 changes to social security laws would be needed to go ahead with the proposed calculation method.
On Tuesday, the commission heard evidence the social services department initially rejected the proposal after legal advice flagged significant criticisms of the proposal.
The commission is attempting to find out how the scheme was set up contrary to policy and legal advice. The scheme was later judged unlawful by the Federal Court after a welfare recipient took legal action.
The inquiry is accepting submissions from people affected by the scheme until February 2023.
A final report is due to be handed down by mid-April.
-with AAP
