罢丑别听Robodebt Royal Commission听has cast immense shame on former Coalition ministers. 鈥淩eprehensible鈥, 鈥渃ruel鈥 and 鈥渋llegal鈥 are some of the words used to describe the scheme.
However, these jokers听are shameless!
Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison听:听鈥淚 reject completely each of the findings which are critical of my involvement in authorising the scheme and are adverse to me鈥.
Former human services minister Alan Tudge听:听鈥淚 strongly reject the Commission鈥檚 comments of the way I used the media and that I had abused my power in doing so鈥.
Tudge, former Attorney General Christian Porter and former Minister for Government Services Stuart Robert have all听听they received a notice from the Royal Commission indicating that they are named in the 鈥檚 sealed section. Conspicuously, Morrison has not.
The sealed section 鈥渞ecommends the referral of individuals for civil action or criminal prosecution鈥 and is not public so as 鈥渘ot to prejudice the conduct of any future civil action or criminal prosecution鈥.
While the Royal Commission report damns all those responsible, it is easier to target public servants rather than politicians for formal punishment.
The Australian Financial Review听听that 鈥渁t least eight senior public servants [are] believed to have been implicated鈥 in the sealed section.
The Guardian听, however, that 鈥渋t is not yet clear which [public servants], if any, will face further consequences鈥. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that public sector agency heads are 鈥渆mpowered to take immediate action鈥 against public servants and he is 鈥渧ery confident that they will鈥.
No doubt, public service officers are responsible for wrongdoing but, equally certainly, primary responsibility lies with politicians who devised the scheme. As Royal Commissioner Catherine Holmes said: 鈥淐ulture is set from the top down鈥.
Despite 听for Morrison to resign from parliament so far he has听听to (even though he appears to have an AUKUS-related听 in Britain lined up). Simply resigning for such egregious crimes is .
Ever the warrior for the billionaire class, Morrison pushed the scheme in 2015 even though . He didn鈥檛 want to test that in law. Instead, he pressed the button.
Unsurprisingly, Robodebt鈥檚 victims were disproportionately the poor and vulnerable. Many paid 鈥渄ebts鈥 they did not owe. Many suffered trauma and distress. In some cases, lives were lost.
Contrast the barbs against those receiving welfare payments to government lenience towards听businesses which rorted JobKeeper and听corporate tax avoiders.
Tudge, in particular, used private information about individual welfare recipients to neutralise media criticism of Robodebt. In the words of the Commission, this was an 鈥渁buse of power鈥 which was 鈥渁ll the more reprehensible in view of the power imbalance between the minister and the cohort of people upon whom it would reasonably be expected to have the most impact鈥.
We voted the Coalition out of power: that is step one towards achieving justice. The Royal Commission has shown the spotlight on the crimes of Robodebt and that is step two.
The next steps are a bit more complicated.
The report made the 鈥渞eluctant conclusion鈥 not to recommend systemic compensation to the victims (although individuals may have grounds to sue ministers). Instead, it suggested, without making a formal recommendation, lifting 鈥渢he rate at which social security benefits are paid鈥.
Raising JobSeeker must be a priority, irrespective of Robodebt.
听Government Services Minister Bill Shorten implied on ABC's 7.30 on July 11听that Labor鈥檚 marginal increases in JobSeeker and Commonwealth Rent Assistance were adequate.
But the Antipoverty Centre has听 that Labor is still 鈥減ursuing more than one million people for 鈥榙ebts鈥 worth $5 billion,鈥 according to Services Australia evidence to Senate estimates last December.
The Commissioner is right to call for an end to the stigmatisation of welfare recipients, stating: 鈥淭he evidence before the Commission was that fraud in the welfare system was miniscule, but that is not the impression one would get from what ministers responsible for social security payments have said over the years鈥.
This Royal Commission will be meaningless unless Labor makes the necessary systemic changes. These include lifting all welfare payments above the poverty line and indexing them to maintain real value. Making corporations pay their fair share of tax and scrapping the Stage tax cuts would easily cover compensation owned to those whose lives have been made hell by being wrongly told they owed Centrelink. 听
[Alex Bainbridge is a member of the .]