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Scott Morrison Blames Robodebt On Labor, Forgets It Was His Idea

He said a Royal Commission wasn't needed because the political fiasco had already "been addressed".

by Millie Roberts  2 May 2022
Robodebt Scott Morrison

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Scott Morrison has somehow found a way to pin blame over the Coalition’s Robodebt crisis onto Labor.

The Prime Minister was asked to respond to the Opposition’s announcement on Friday that they would set up a Royal Commission to look into Robodebt if elected.

When asked if his government would offer the same if voted back in on May 21, Morrison said that the fiasco — which claimed the lives of over 2000 people — had already “been addressed”.

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“There’s been numerous inquiries into this matter, and court battles which we’ve fully cooperated in,” said Morrison at a press conference in Tasmania on Saturday.

“But any such inquiry, I would imagine, would have to start with the process of…income assessment — averaging of incomes — which was introduced by the Labor party,” he said. “I find it quite hypocritical that a scheme that the Labor party actually introduced for income averaging in assessing people’s welfare entitlements — that they now seek to criticise the government for.”

He then deflected in his answer to rant about the Opposition sharing its ambitions despite not being elected yet, before going on to list his own party’s election promises in the state.

Robodebt was first rolled out in 2016 after being conceived a year earlier by the Turnbull Government, and used automated systems to assess welfare overpayments. However, the debt collection notices that Centrelink recipients received during this period were often wrong, putting immense financial and mental strain on Australia’s most vulnerable.

In 2019, the Morrison Government admitted that the program was unlawful during a federal court challenge. The class action found that the Commonwealth tried to claim nearly $2 billion from over 400,000 people. Morrison was Social Services Minister at the time of introduction, and later Treasurer — but has since denied any personal responsibility.

“The scheme was announced by — guess who — Scott Morrison and the government in 2015,” said Shadow Minister for Government Services, Bill Shorten on Saturday, denying that Labor introduced a precursor to Robodebt.

“Mr Morrison put out talking points and they’re just a pack of lies, a farrago of fiction,” he said. “I haven’t met many victims of Robodebt who don’t want a Royal Commission.”