The former boss of a federal government department that advised on Robodebt signed a letter to the Commonwealth Ombudsman in 2017 saying the scheme was lawful, despite not seeing any legal or policy advice or knowing how it worked, a royal commission has heard.
Finn Pratt AO PSM, who was the Department of Social Services (DSS) secretary from 2013 to 2017, has given evidence at the commission sitting in Brisbane.
The commission heard his department provided legal and policy advice for the Department of Human Services (DHS) budget savings proposal that became Robodebt.
In the hearing, Mr Pratt, the most senior public servant to appear before the commission so far, repeatedly said he did not have any knowledge of the scheme or its illegal "income averaging" method until 2017 when the Ombudsman was investigating.
Mr Pratt said he signed a letter to the Ombudsman saying his department was satisfied it was operating legally because he "trusted" the advice his officials provided.
"Every bit of advice I saw … suggested we as a department thought everything was working reasonably. Obviously, that was wrong and I was wrong in my assertion to the ombudsman, I take responsibility for that," Mr Pratt said.
In a tense exchange with Commissioner Catherine Holmes, Mr Pratt admitted he did not ask for legal advice before making the recommendation.
Commissioner Holmes: "You were prepared to sign this letter which asserted the department was satisfied the system is operating in line with legislative requirements but you didn't ask to see any legal advice?"
Mr Pratt: "All of the advice I'd seen … was … the system was working as intended."
Commissioner Holmes: "Did you ask how it worked?"
Mr Pratt: "No, I don't believe I did."
Commissioner Holmes: "And you didn't say to your own department … did we get some legal advice on this, could I have a look at it?"
'One headache which wasn't my headache'
Mr Pratt told the commission the scheme's problems were "not a priority" and he was more "focused on other matters".
"I am not attempting to diminish in any way the importance of the Robodebt program and the terrible nature of what came out of it but … this was a measure produced by another department which was independent of my department … it was not a priority issue for me," he said.
"I was looking at the NDIS … we were developing the redress scheme in response to the royal commission into child sexual abuse, we were bringing into the country 12,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees, [I was also working on the] cashless debit card [program], welfare reforms … all of these sat under my responsibility.
"The NDIS was all-consuming. All-consuming.
"It was not something which I saw as my responsibility."
Commissioner Holmes said: "I appreciate you had multiple headaches, that's the life of a secretary of a department isn't it? But this was a pretty large and obvious one [issue] given the senate attention, media attention?"
Mr Pratt interrupted: "Commissioner, I don't want to debate with you on this but in my world … this was one headache which wasn't my headache."
Commissioner Holmes replied: "Whatever was going on was creating havoc for thousands and thousands of welfare recipients. It wasn't an issue sufficient to attract your attention?"
"I was not focusing on a matter which was the creation of another department," Mr Pratt replied.
"Now I'm not trying to shirk responsibility here. I am not trying to blame DHS."
Mr Pratt's deputy, Serena Wilson, told the commission on Wednesday she knew Robodebt was unlawful but did not tell anyone.
However Mr Pratt did not accept suggestions by counsel assisting the commission Justin Greggery KC that he had been duped.
"If you are suggesting that there was some form of conspiracy amongst my people to dupe me, I refuse to believe that," Mr Pratt said.
Mr Pratt also told the inquiry DSS was responsible for a third of the Commonwealth's expenditure at the conception of Robodebt, and his department was one of the former Coalition government's biggest targets for budget savings.
The commission heard that meant the department was required to develop potentially hundreds of policy proposals to bring the budget into surplus.
The first round of hearings concludes on Friday.
