Bill Shorten has said it is “not sustainable” for the robodebt royal commission sealed chapter to remain secret forever, as the Greens push for its release within 12 months.
The government services minister made the comment on Monday despite the fact Labor is yet to receive formal advice on its release.
The sealed chapter “recommends the referral of individuals for civil action or criminal prosecution”, the commissioner, Catherine Holmes, wrote in her cover letter to the governor general.
Holmes recommended the additional chapter “remain sealed and not be tabled with the rest of the report so as not to prejudice the conduct of any future civil action or criminal prosecution”.
The sealed chapter is in the possession of secretaries of the department of the prime minister and cabinet, attorney general’s department and the attorney general. Relevant sections were sent to commonwealth agencies, the Australian public service commissioner, the national anti-corruption commissioner, the federal police and the ACT Law Society.
On Monday evening a spokesperson for Katy Gallagher, the minister for public service, revealed a new “code taskforce” has been established to prepare the government’s response to the royal commission.
Steve Sedgwick, a former public service commissioner, has started as the independent reviewer who will determine if public servants with adverse findings have breached the APS code of conduct.
“Department and agency heads have either made, or are making, referrals to the APSC of the public servants named in the sealed section of the report,” the spokesperson said.
The Greens social services spokeswoman, Janet Rice, said the “government should set a clear timeframe for when they will unseal the letter”.
“We don’t want to pre-empt the important work of referrals but we’re calling on government to unseal it within a year - preferably well before - as soon as all the referrals have been made,” she said.
“There is a compelling case for the public to know the details of the referrals to ensure all reasonable steps have been taken to deliver accountability.”
Earlier, Shorten told ABC AM that he wants to “make sure that the public know” if people are held to account, because “the accountability about individuals is important”.
“Nearly half a million of our fellow Australians received unlawful debt notices, unlawfully raised against them by their own government.
“They want not just an explanation of how it can happen, which we’ve now got, but they want to know that the people who made these callous, unlawful decisions face consequences.”
Shorten said that he didn’t think “there’s any avoiding the need to explain to people who’s been found responsible for what”, adding that “this situation where we never are told is not a sustainable position”.
“But I accept that the commissioner has said that while there’s a process of investigation going on, the parts of the report which go towards the evidence which may be used against people shouldn’t necessarily be out there in the full public domain until processes have been followed.”
Shorten said that he didn’t read anything in Holmes’ letter to mean the sealed chapter is “a forever situation”.
On Friday prime minister Anthony Albanese said it was “pretty clear” from the letter “it’s not about … the sealed section remaining sealed forever”.
Albanese said in his view the chapter remaining sealed is for a “period in which this information is being kept for the purpose of not prejudicing” civil and criminal action.
Shorten promised “there will be accountability … we want to do it the right way so there is real accountability and not the wrong way”.
Andrew Wilkie, an independent MP who was one of the first parliamentarians to speak out about robodebt, told Guardian Australia: “I think it’s appropriate that there is this sealed chapter.”
“Until these people have their day in court – it’s probably appropriate that the chapter is sealed.
“But the pressure is now on the government to move quickly to investigate all the people in that sealed chapter.
“And the government must not hesitate a moment to commence legal proceedings if that’s warranted.”
The debate about the sealed sections comes as pressure mounts on former prime minister Scott Morrison to quit parliament following the release of the robodebt report.
Morrison has rejected its findings that he allowed cabinet to be misled about whether legislative change was needed and that his evidence about being told income averaging was an established practice was “untrue”.
