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Scott Morrison will be questioned by a royal commission over the Centrelink payment scandal where several Australians took their own lives while being hounded for debt
- Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison to appear at a royal commission on debt theft
- He will be questioned about the scheme and why it was adopted despite concerns.
- Morrison was social services minister when it was enforced in 2015.
- Former Foreign Minister Marise Payne appeared as a witness in the commission
- The scheme falsely accused welfare recipients of owing money to the government.
- More than $750 million was taken from recipients, while many took their own lives.
Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison will appear before a royal commission into the failed debt robbery scheme on Wednesday.
The commission is trying to establish why the changes to the welfare debt protocol were adopted, despite concerns about their legality.
The scheme falsely accused welfare recipients of owing money to the government.
Morrison was involved in implementing the scheme when he was minister for social services in 2015.
Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison (pictured) will head a royal commission into the failed Robodebt scheme
Records show that Mr Morrison signed a department document that included the concerns, which were absent when the policy was later submitted to Cabinet for consideration.
Between 2015 and 2020, the scheme wrongly recovered more than $750 million from 381,000 people. More than 2,000 people have taken their lives while being persecuted for false debts.
Former Foreign Minister Marise Payne appeared as a witness before the commission on Tuesday.
Senator Payne was minister of human services at the time the program was formulated and oversaw the creation of department briefings for Mr. Morrison, who was its senior minister.
She said she was not aware of why the legal issues noted in previous reports were omitted from the final policy proposal.
‘How did the identification of the problem…disappear from the radar when it seems that (the cabinet) considered the proposal?’ the lead attorney helping Justin Greggery KC asked Senator Payne.
“I don’t know the answer to that question and I say it in all transparency,” he said.
“However, there is an expectation that when the agencies report back to you, in a summary, that they are working together to address these issues.”
The scheme wrongly recovered more than $750 million from 381,000 welfare recipients, with multiple victims taking their own lives while being hunted for the bogus debts (file image)
Former foreign minister Marise Payne, who was minister for human services at the time the program was formulated, appeared on the committee and said she did not know why the legal issues raised in the briefings were omitted from the proposal for final policy.
When asked who had responsibility for moving concerns forward, Senator Payne said ministers were always ‘ultimately responsible’ but should receive advice from their departments.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a royal commission into the scheme in August.
His government wiped out the debts of 197,000 debt robbery victims that were still under review.