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Robodebt: five years of lies, mistakes and failures that caused a $1.8bn scandal

The royal commission ended on Friday, having heard shocking testimony from officials and politicians, and heart-rending accounts of the impact of the botched scheme

The Guardian - AU

Top bureaucrat who oversaw Robodebt rollout says document to ministers was potentially misleading

Kathryn Campbell tells the Robodebt royal commission that a document put to Cabinet failed to mention the need for legislative change.

ABC News

Robodebt: top bureaucrat admits ‘significant oversight’ led to cabinet being misled

Former department head Kathryn Campbell rejects suggestions at inquiry that oversight was deliberate or government ministers had pressured her

The Guardian - AU

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Stuart Robert said ‘we will double down’ after being advised robodebt was unlawful, inquiry told

Former human services secretary says Coalition minister told her ‘legal advice is just advice’ when briefed on solicitor general’s opinion on scheme’s legality

The Guardian - AU

Alan Tudge’s senior staff failed to ask about robodebt scheme’s legality, inquiry hears

Former staffer to the human services minister unable to say what action he took over a review that raised issues with the scheme

The Guardian - AU

Public servants may have ‘colluded’ to launch robodebt despite knowing it was unlawful, inquiry hears

Former deputy secretary Serena Wilson denies ‘reconstructing events’ in her evidence to the royal commission to protect her own interests

The Guardian - AU

Coalition government lacked 'empathy' for welfare recipients, focused on cost savings, Serena Wilson tells Robodebt royal commission

A former department head described the office of then-social services minister Scott Morrison as having "limited interest in advice" between 2014 and 2018.

ABC News

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Government lawyer did not turn his mind to ‘significant consequences’ of continuing robodebt, inquiry told

Royal commission hears Paul Menzies-McVey was awaiting ‘definitive advice’ from the solicitor general on robodebt’s legality

The Guardian - AU

Former top Department of Social Services lawyer failed to share advice Robodebt was illegal, royal commission hears

Ex-government lawyer says he was "not sure if I turned my mind to that" when asked if he worried about people who received debt letters while a Centrelink worker reveals how the program was administered.

ABC News

Government lawyers were told Robodebt's income-averaging method couldn't be used to calculate welfare debts, royal commission hears

The inquiry hears from a mother whose son took his own life after being targeted with dozens of phone calls, text messages from Centrelink and debt collectors chasing an alleged Robodebt.

ABC News

Robodebt royal commission: the questions that remain as inquiry’s final public hearings begin

Outlines for the upcoming hearings on the Coalition’s flawed debt recovery scheme show where the investigation may be headed next

The Guardian - AU

Former social services minister Christian Porter takes responsibility for Robodebt failures at royal commission

Former minister Christian Porter has conceded talking points he was given at the height of Robodebt criticism were "inaccurate and untrue", and has taken some responsibility for the failed scheme.

ABC News

Christian Porter to face robodebt inquiry after Alan Tudge questioned over department’s response to suicides

Former social services minister due to appear at high-profile royal commission on Thursday

The Guardian - AU

Robodebt failings not his responsibility, Alan Tudge says

Questions regarding how much Alan Tudge knew about the often wild inaccuracies in the robodebt system went unanswered.

The New Daily

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ABC News

Alan Tudge tells Robodebt royal commission he was not responsible for department's failures to ensure scheme was lawful

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.

The Guardian - AU

Alan Tudge denies he was responsible for department’s failure to check legality of robodebt, royal commission hears

Former human services minister says he was away on leave when an article casting doubt on legality of robodebt was sent to him

The Guardian - AU

Former Social Services official denies trying to conceal evidence during robodebt investigation

Robert Hurman tells royal commission it was ‘not my intention’ to be anything other than full and frank with the watchdog

ABC News

Witness Robert Hurman admits his department made 'false' statements about Robodebt to ombudsman

A senior bureaucrat who approved a letter to the ombudsman investigating Robodebt has conceded his department made "false" statements about the unlawful scheme.

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The Guardian - AU

How Morrison launched Australia’s ‘strong welfare cop’ – and the pain robodebt left in its wake

Public servants had legal advice saying the robodebt proposal was unlawful long before Scott Morrison announced it. How was it never delivered to him?

The Guardian - AU

Scott Morrison leaned on his faith in his department to explain the ‘critical failure’ of robodebt

Former PM’s verbose approach in stand meant it took an eternity to establish his position that he didn’t see vital legal advice on the scheme and can’t say why

The Guardian - AU

Robodebt inquiry: Scott Morrison says it’s ‘distressing’ ministers not warned about scheme’s legal risks

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

The Guardian - AU

‘I don’t know’: Marise Payne unsure why advice for legal change to robodebt disappeared from policy plan

‘Essentially responsibility is always borne by ministers,’ the then human services minister tells royal commission into doomed scheme

The Guardian - AU

Tax officials who raised concerns about robodebt were ‘fobbed off’, inquiry hears

Royal commission also hears ATO stonewalled the media despite misgivings that data it provided for robodebt was not ethical

ABC News

Former bureaucrat says 'give me a break', denies claims she misled watchdog over Robodebt

Catherine Halbert was questioned over her correspondence with the federal watchdog, in which she said she believed changes had been made in 2015 to ensure the proposal that became Robodebt was lawful.

The Guardian - AU

Robodebt royal commission told ‘misrepresentation may have made its way into the cabinet’

Bureaucrats from March 2015 insisted in documents that scheme would ‘not change’ how welfare overpayments were calculated, inquiry hears

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