Robodebt Royal Commission

Justin Greggery is again trying to set out a timeline for discussions, and confirm he did not ask for any advice on the changing positions on legislation. So, ...

And in seeking to ensure the integrity of system and any overpayments are dealt with, then that is a difficult part of the system to manage. And it’s not a reason that it may or may not have been accomplished if we had the view, and there was a fair view that we already had as a government, a fairly long list of legislated measures, and … So, in seeking to ensure the integrity of the system, then that does of course put obligations on individuals who have been the recipients of payments. had that information come forward in the way that I’ve now seen it, which I did not see at the time and certainly before late 2019 in terms of the solicitor general’s advice, but the actual advice that was circulating, even prior to my arrival in the portfolio, then I doubt we’d be sitting here today. There was not the idea that I would have assumed that they had advice and weren’t giving it to me … I understand, under the cabinet handbook, what my responsibilities are and I put trust in that relationship and being able to assert about the correct status of the sufficient terms of the timeframe as I noted, that is not an unusual timeframe. [had] we formed the view and had I formed the view that on the basis of legislation, that wouldn’t be achievable … So we can ensure that the payments that needed to be made could be made to those who needed the most. And one that I think has a great deal of strength and credibility in which ministers, I think, are quite reasonably able to rely upon, whether it was my government or the one I was part of, indeed, the government now … this was a measure that was initiated within the public service and brought to us which we agreed to take forward based on those representations. And I welcomed it, and those who provided free and frank advice, I know appreciated the ability to give it, but the other thing that I always appreciated was secretaries and others I work with that haven’t given that advice and a minister making a decision. I mean, the provision of free and frank advice is an important part of the public service and it’s something that I’ve always relied on and I must say in my experience as a minister I’ve got plenty of it.

Former prime minister Scott Morrison says he was focused on tackling welfare fraud and not privy to departmental discussions over the legality of the ...

Please click below to help InDaily continue to uncover the facts. had changed and advice was given that legislation was not required, by the department.” Your contribution goes directly to helping our journalists uncover the facts. Morrison conceded the government had a strong desire to balance the budget and that it faced a hostile Senate, creating roadblocks for legislation. Morrison told the commission he was not privy to communications between the departments and he assumed the concerns had been settled. “But it is necessary to listen to the question and just answer it without …

Scott Morrison has been asked if he is “listening at all” in a tense hearing of the royal commission into the failed robodebt welfare compliance scheme.

Mr Morrison described himself as a “welfare cop” in that interview. Mr Morrison said on Wednesday he had wanted to shore up the “integrity of the welfare system” but conceded the government had wanted to achieve balance budget and faced difficulties in passing legislation because there was a hostile senate in parliament at the time. Mr Morrison said by the time he took a final policy proposal to cabinet in March 2015, the DSS had changed its view and advised new legislation was not required. The commission has previously heard Mr Morrison was advised that the robodebt scheme would require changes to the law to operate legally, but he pushed ahead with the program regardless. Mr Morrison told the commission he was never advised the robodebt scheme was unlawful before it was implemented. Mr Morrison, who is considered one of the architects of robodebt, was the social services minister when the policy was introduced in 2015 and prime minister when it was discontinued in 2019 after it was found to be unlawful.

Scott Morrison has been called out for dancing around questions at in a tense hearing of the royal commission into the failed Robodebt welfare compliance ...

4BC federal politics reporter Zac De Silva said the main question they want to answer is why the scheme continued after the then-government was told it was unlawful. Scott Morrison has been called out for dancing around questions at in a tense hearing of the royal commission into the failed Robodebt welfare compliance scheme. He says the system was in use before he took over as Social Services Minister and his government only scaled it up.

The former prime minister had to be told several times while giving evidence at the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme to stay on topic and listen to ...

had changed and advice was given that legislation was not required, by the department." More information and support with mental health is available at and on 1300 22 4636. Mr Morrison insisted he was not privy to communications between the departments and assumed the legal concerns had been settled when the final proposal was presented to him. "It was not uncommon that at early stages in my experience of new policy proposals that departments would flag potential issues and that's what I simply noted that to be," he told the commission. "Scott Morrison had an opportunity today to attend the royal commission, to personally apologise, to accept personal responsibility," he told reporters. - The former prime minister had to be told several times by the commissioner to stay on topic and listen to questions.

Former prime minister tells royal commission that public servants had 'obligation and duty' to disclose issues with debt recovery plan.

After a row with the Department of Human Services, which backed the plan, the legal warnings “fell away”. “My answer is any draft NPP … Then you get a new policy proposal that says legislative change is not required. Holmes pressed him: “You have a minute that says legislative changes required. “The critical failure in the system … He said he “would never have conceived that had there had been legal advice suggesting it was unlawful, it had never entered my imagination that would not be raised with ministers”.

Scott Morrison, as prime minister, perfected the art of avoiding straight answers when it suited him, but the robo-debt commissioner wasn't having any of ...

Morrison said it was common for advice to change as proposals evolved, and “by the time of the submission going to cabinet, the view at DSS [Department of Social Security] had changed”. Averaging, of course, has long been the subject of mockery. “I have given you the courtesy of not interrupting your answers. The onus fell upon welfare beneficiaries to prove they didn’t owe the government money, causing immense distress and in some reported cases, suicide. No Dorothy Dixers were to be allowed into this hearing, clearly. You might imagine such sharp advice from an eminent jurist would be taken to heart.

Despite Scott Morrison making a solid effort to represent himself as an innocent bystander in the Robodebt RC, his waffling and obfuscation are only ...

Follow Independent Australia on Twitter [@independentaus](https://twitter.com/independentaus) and on Facebook [HERE](https://www.facebook.com/IndependentAus/). He strayed off into what he "understood" the department "understood" about what the recipients "understood" and whether he had any "understanding" of the legislation. What we need to understand is that Scotty from Marketing, the Liar from the Shire, the former PM, secret Treasurer, Health Minister, Finance Minister, Home Affairs Minister and Minister for Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, hero of Engadine and now, self-appointed Welfare Cop, will continue to avoid and weasel his way out of all responsibility. That it matters not if people were hounded to their deaths because Robodebt was one of the mechanisms by which he could pretend to care about so-called “rorting”. This, of course, is all because while Morrison may not be a lawyer, he understands that the “framing” of questions and of facts, can provide a perfect decoy for avoiding unpleasant consequences. Because, sure, today (14 December) is the day the former PM was questioned by a royal commission to determine whether or not he was aware of the flagrant miscarriage of justice that resulted in Robodebt – the illegal scheme that led to the deaths of an estimated 2,000 individuals – and which was based on the "semantics" provided by recipients to the Department of Social Services going back as far as ten years. [@vmp9](https://twitter.com/vmp9). Interestingly, the legality of the scheme and whether he was aware of it was also the subject of one of Morrison's tangents. He will throw his colleagues and staff under the bus, just as he did the victims of the (as he always understood it to be) illegal, Robodebt scheme. "Can I get you to stick to answering the question a bit more? As was his habit while Prime Minister, Morrison frequently drifts off during the proceedings into long, usually irrelevant soliloquies about what a great job he was doing and why Robodebt was really needed. Just like any actual progress during Morrison’s prime ministerial term, the Robodebt Royal Commission is proceeding interminably slowly as Morrison gives evidence about what he knew about Robodebt.

Former prime minister Scott Morrison has been repeatedly reprimanded by the commissioner and counsel assisting at a Royal Commission into the failed ...

Scott Morrison faced a long stint in the witness box before the Robodebt Royal Commission this week over his involvement.

These are the sentiments the Australians people are hoping are now being directed to Scott Morrison and Alan Tudge… Because you must have wondered, didn’t you, about the power to do these things?” Holmes asked. The plan that Morrison approved would take years retrospectively and average out the incomes of participants for the whole year. Morrison tried his best to obfuscate his answers but was pulled up multiple times “”I do understand that you come from a background where rhetoric is important”. “The critical failure in the system … At one point Morrison tried to reveal to the commission documents which are under parliamentary privilege.