Robodebt royal commission
2023 - 2 - 1
Alan Tudge tells Robodebt royal commission he was not ... (ABC News)
Former cabinet minister Alan Tudge has told a royal commission he was not responsible for his department's failure to ensure the Robodebt scheme was lawful.
"That was certainly not my intent," Mr Tudge said. "I accept and understand deeply the Westminster concept of ministerial responsibility … I simply don't know the name," Mr Tudge said. yes, but to say, the way that you put it, that I was responsible … she's going to solve that question before raising it with the minister," he said. “So the Department of Social Services' lawyers would have had to form a view that it was lawful …
'Not responsible': MP's shock claim (NEWS.com.au)
Alan Tudge says it was not his responsibility check whether or not the robodebt scheme was lawful despite being the minister in charge.
“It just didn’t happen because that is the culture of the place. It is unfathomable,” he said about the scheme. The automated welfare recovery scheme using incomig average unlawfully took $720m from 381,000 Australians. “The media strategy we developed was to run a counter-narrative in the more friendly media such as The Australian and the tabloids, which we knew were interested in running stories about welfare system integrity and the supposed ‘dole-bludgers’,” she said. “The way it was phrased to me, I was less familiar with,” he told the commission in reference to the interview’s questions. A story in The Australian in December of that year was aimed to showcase the department’s achievements with the scheme under the headline “Welfare debt squad hunts for $4bn”.
Alan Tudge denies he was responsible for department's failure to ... (The Guardian)
Former human services minister says he was not aware of issues with Centrelink scheme until Malcolm Turnbull sent him an article in 2017.
It did not seek an authoritative legal opinion until the middle of 2019 in response to a court action, which subsequently saw the program shut down. Hanks said the robodebt scheme was unlawful. “I didn’t know the full context in relation to the legalities,” he said. “A cabinet process is a rigorous process … “There were a number of issues being raised in the media … “This was a program …
Evidence heard at robodebt royal commission (Sky News Australia)
The Robodebt Royal Commission has heard the Morrison Government established a crisis media strategy to counter criticism of the failed debt recovery scheme.
Tudge's office used News Corp to 'shut down' robodebt media crisis ... (Crikey)
The strategy saw Alan Tudge's media adviser plant stories with sympathetic 'right-wing' outlets and release personal details of victims.
She was asked about the process that led to the release of victims’ personal details. Miller told the commission that Turnbull liked reading The Sydney Morning Herald. Once the issue began to attract coverage in other outlets, she said, then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull became “unhappy”. The story said the department “confirmed” that a number of victims who said they were wrongly targeted had “in fact” accepted that the debt averaged by the scheme was owed. To do so without evidence would be to break the law.” The bolstered media offensive then saw the minister’s office and the department actively seek to disprove claims made by victims of the scheme in the media.
Alan Tudge says he knew robo-debt was inaccurate (The Sydney Morning Herald)
The former Liberal human services minister says he knew the robo-debt scheme produced inaccurate results from early 2017.
[Angus Thompson](/by/angus-thompson-h13u28)is a federal political reporter covering industrial relations for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via “I was aware the system through the data matching process had the potential to create inaccuracies and I was aware of that in January [2017],” he said. “It just had not crossed my mind until I read it in the newspaper, I think following the Federal Court case,” he said of the scheme’s legality.
Tudge's office used News Corp to 'shut down' robodebt media crisis ... (Crikey)
The strategy saw Alan Tudge's media adviser plant stories with sympathetic 'right-wing' outlets and release personal details of victims.
She was asked about the process that led to the release of victims’ personal details. Miller told the commission that Turnbull liked reading The Sydney Morning Herald. Once the issue began to attract coverage in other outlets, she said, then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull became “unhappy”. The story said the department “confirmed” that a number of victims who said they were wrongly targeted had “in fact” accepted that the debt averaged by the scheme was owed. To do so without evidence would be to break the law.” The bolstered media offensive then saw the minister’s office and the department actively seek to disprove claims made by victims of the scheme in the media.
Robodebt royal commission updates LIVE: Alan Tudge admits robo ... (The Australian Financial Review)
Alan Tudge before robo-debt royal commission; Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke to meet business, union groups about next tranche of IR changes.
Burke said he wasn’t critical of unions for asking, but that it wasn’t on the government’s agenda. “And I always made that distinction to the best of my knowledge. Dutton has issued a list of 15 questions about details surrounding the Voice which he says Labor must answer before the referendum. That is the nature of a Constitution, and part of the education process that needs to occur this year is an honest way is for people to talk about what the Constitution is.” “It had nothing to do with recovering debt through the data matching. We are determined to our bit.” Tudge tells the royal commission his answer was based on a question in relation to fraud, rather than inadvertent over payments. “When assessing these requests, we always seek to sensibly balance the needs of our customers with those of our suppliers. The central bank told senators that inflation had “peaked” in the December quarter last year at 7.8 per cent. - Retired judge Walter Sofronoff has been named to head an inquiry into the prosecution of Bruce Lehrmann. He agreed the averaging process would likely raise inaccurate debts, and that it did not provide a perfect representation of what welfare recipients actually received. He told the National Press Club he’d invited unions and business groups to a consultation meeting next Wednesday.
Legality of Robodebt not my problem, former minister tells ... (Government News)
Former Human Services Minister Alan Tudge has appeared before the Robodebt Royal Commission.
And if they discovered there was an issue it would be raised.” And if they thought there was an issue they would have got that checked. “My expectation is it would make them inevitably contemplate what the advice was that was given, and reassure themselves that what they were doing was lawful,” Mr Tudge said. My expectation is it would make them inevitably contemplate what the advice was that was given, and reassure themselves that what they were doing was lawful.Former DHS minister Alan Tudge that steps ought to have been taken by the secretary and chief counsel to assure themselves of the legality of the scheme?” Mr Greggery said. Mr Tudge told the commission that “with the chief legal officers of the department and the secretary not raising anything with me (about the lawfulness of Robodebt), which she had a legal obligation to do, it simply wasn’t in my mind to enquire about that.”
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