Personal information of Robodebt victims was released to journalists in an effort to deter them from speaking out, a former media adviser to ex-human services minister Alan Tudge has told a royal commission.
Rachelle Miller was Mr Tudge's senior media adviser while he was in charge of the illegal debt recovery program as the human services minister in the Turnbull government from 2016 to 2017.
She handled media inquiries when concerns over the scheme's central method, income averaging, were first raised in the media in late 2016.
The Coalition government repeatedly defended the program, which continued to operate until 2019, falsely accusing hundreds of thousands of welfare recipients of owing money to Centrelink.
Ms Miller said there was a "proliferation" of negative media coverage in late 2016 that was "growing and growing and growing" but it was "predominantly in the left-wing media".
"We weren't too concerned because it wasn't unusual that the left-wing media were attacking us regarding social policy," she said.
Ms Miller told the commission in response to growing criticism, the government adopted a counter-narrative strategy in the "more friendly media" such as the tabloids.
Counsel assisting Justin Greggery KC asked Ms Miller: "You said the media demand was very high … the media was generally adverse … it was heavily critical. Would you say that… the media situation was in crisis mode?"
"Yes, but I didn't think it was not able to be shut down," she replied.
"The prime minister [Malcom Turnbull] was unhappy with the escalating media issue around this [Robodebt] … we were trying to contain it," she said.
"I developed a crisis media strategy at the request of the minister – he was very firm with me that I needed to shut this story down.
"That involved … placing stories with the more friendly media, the right-wing media, about how the Coalition was actually catching people who were cheating the welfare system."
She said she received feedback from the then prime minister's office that the narrative of "cracking down on welfare cheats" was playing well in marginal "key" seats, like Western Sydney.
"But we had a continued crisis in the left-wing media that wasn't seeming to die down," she said.
Personal details released to media
Ms Miller said the government released personal information of Robodebt "case studies" to the media to deter more people from speaking out.
"The minister requested the file of every single person who appeared in the media … you could see the exact transactions that they'd had with Centrelink.
"This would send a clear message … that maybe consider it [going to the media] twice.
"There were less people speaking out in the media which was our intention."
The commission heard Ms Miller's crisis strategy also included tracking down debts from when Labor was in office that were "not detected because they did not take the integrity of the welfare system seriously".
"The minister was really, really very forceful about obtaining these case studies. He was very adamant with me that I needed to hunt as many case studies as I could," Ms Miller said.
"That was to throw back to Labor that: 'You would let these guys go'."
Last year, Ms Miller received a $650,000 settlement from the Commonwealth after she alleged abuse by Mr Tudge during her employment under him and former government minister Michaelia Cash.
'That's exactly how the system is supposed to be working'
Ms Miller also told the commission a young staffer in then-minister Darren Chester's office approached her for help after receiving a Robodebt notice from her days as a student.
"That alarmed me a little bit because I thought if a ministerial adviser has only been able to work out her debt from having kept very accurate records, I did start to wonder how the bulk of people who received welfare payments were going to manage that."
Ms Miller referred the staffer's matter onto Mr Tudge's office and her debt was wiped once she provided pay-slip information.
She said she raised the matter with Mr Tudge and his response was: "That's exactly how the system is supposed to be working."
Ms Miller said there was a "distinct lack of empathy" from the government to "a person who was receiving a Centrelink notice".
"It didn't happen because that was the culture of the place," she said.
"You would think that working in human services, social services, that the first person you think about is the recipient but that was not the case throughout the Coalition government."
She said she reached out to the royal commission to make a submission.
"We must ensure we learn from this significant failure of public policy," she said in her written statement.
'It's a disgrace'
Former acting national manager of customer and media engagement at the Department of Human Services (DHS), Bevan Hannan, gave evidence late Tuesday afternoon.
He said he became "quite upset" watching earlier public hearings because "it became apparent that people [at the department] knew that aspects of the Robodebt scheme were unlawful".
"There was an opportunity in January 2017 to put a stop to it," Mr Hannan said.
"It was a time for the department to put the cards on the table and that didn't happen.
"As a public servant, I'm livid that there was an opportunity … to say there was a problem and it wasn't said. It's a disgrace."
Mr Tudge will appear at the inquiry on Wednesday.
