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The Latest Breaking News from Malisa Golightly

How bureaucrats and Morrison misled a government and created a lethal policy

Bureaucrats in the Department of Human Services worked hard to overcome advice that robodebt was illegal, and misled cabinet into backing it — along with their minister, Scott Morrison.

Crikey

Seven public servants criticised in robodebt report as agencies consider response

Royal commissioner Catherine Holmes found that bureaucrats misled cabinet and ombudsman

The Guardian - AU

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

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Department of Human Services bureaucrat ordered Robodebt letter system be switched off, royal commission hears

Former director at the Department of Human Services Tenille Collins says she had concerns with the Robodebt scheme's practice of sending welfare recipients a debt if they did not respond to a letter from Centrelink after 21 days.

ABC News

Public servant claims she was ‘screamed at irrationally’ after querying robodebt scheme

Official tells royal commission she was threatened with losing her job after turning off part of the system without approval

The Guardian - AU

Robodebt inquiry: evidence contradicts witness’s claim he didn’t know unlawful method was being used

Former Department of Human Services official tells inquiry he can’t explain emails and other documents he saw referring to use of income averaging

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

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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

Inaccuracy of robodebt scheme ‘known issue’ but was ‘only way’ to do more reviews, commission told

Former top lawyer for the Department of Human Services said she relied on another department’s position that income averaging scheme was lawful

The Guardian - AU

Senior DHS official ‘very angry’ when colleague suggested robodebt needed ‘major response’, inquiry told

Compliance manager tells royal commission she was ‘unable to influence’ boss away from ‘deliver the numbers’ direction

The Guardian - AU

Boss 'very angry' after manager suggested declaring 'major response' into Robodebt, royal commission told

A former compliance manager tells the Robodebt royal commission her suggestion to declare a major response into Robodebt made her boss "very angry".

ABC News

Former social services official told to ‘tone down’ robodebt legal concerns, inquiry hears

Andrew Whitecross says he fiercely criticised the proposal and questioned its legality in the scheme’s initial plan

The Guardian - AU

Bureaucrat told to 'tone down' Robodebt criticism, royal commission hears

Andrew Whitecross, then an employee at the Department of Human Services, agrees the policy which became Robodebt was a "radical departure" from compliance at the time.

ABC News

Draft Robodebt proposal to Scott Morrison was a 'watering down' of legal advice

Emails between Department of Human Services and Department of Social Services officials showed the language around the Robodebt scheme had been softened.

The Canberra Times

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The Guardian - AU

Conspiracy or stuff up? Robodebt royal commission probes how far up the chain of command blame falls

The first two weeks of hearings into the unlawful welfare scheme sought to answer a central question: how could this happen?

The Guardian - AU

Robodebt likely a ‘stuff up’ rather than a ‘conspiracy’, former department boss tells inquiry

Royal commission also shown key 2015 document confirming Scott Morrison’s request for welfare ‘compliance’ measures

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