Former DHS chief counsel Annette Musolino concedes she should’ve read Robodebt materials more closely

Centrelink’s head lawyer has conceded she had documents in her possession outlining Robodebt’s sketchy legal footing and would have pursued the matter further, had she read those emails at the time.

Centrelink’s head lawyer conceded she had documents in her possession outlining robodebt’s sketchy legal footing and would have pursued the matter further had she read those emails at the time.

Department of Human Services former chief counsel Annette Musolino also acknowledged she could have been “more detailed” in her 2017 analysis to colleagues of a speech by eminent legal mind Peter Hanks KC who pointed to Robodebt’s potential unlawfulness.

Ms Musolino was grilled in her third appearance at the Royal Commission into Robodebt, where she ultimately rejected numerous inferences from counsel assisting Angus Scott KC that she wilfully failed to pursue substantial legal advice on Robodebt’s legality.

The unlawful Centrelink debt recovery scheme ran from 2015 to November 2019, illegally garnished $720m from 380,000 victims, and culminated with a $1.8bn settlement to hundreds of thousands of victims.

Former Chief Counsel, Department of Human Services and Chief Operating Officer, Services Australia Annette Musolino speaking during the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme.

The Brisbane-based inquiry, helmed by Commissioner Catherine Holmes AC SC, is working to establish how the illegal program came to be and kept going despite numerous red flags suggesting it was unlawful.

Robodebt victim Matt Thompson, 50 of Tasmania, also faced the inquiry on Wednesday and detailed how being hounded for an illegal $11,000 debt took years off his life and sparked a heart attack.

Ms Musolino, now the chief operating officer of Services Australia, had been on leave in January 2017 when furore over robodebt first exploded in the media.

It was during this time, as previously detailed to the inquiry, that a Centrelink lawyer had flagged concerns about robodebt and work to get in-depth legal advice was done but never sent off.

On January 23 Ms Musolino sent out an email asking lawyers across the departments different branches to hand her “any legal advice” they had on the program — receiving 13 responses.

She told colleague Lisa Carmody, who had been acting in the role when a request to get legal advice from the public service law firm was drafted, that she had “everything that was printed” and didn’t need to be sent anything else.

The same day another department lawyer, Glyn Fiveash, forwarded Ms Musolino an “information piece” he had written less than two weeks earlier outlining how income averaging, in the robodebt way, “cannot be done”.

Ms Musolino, under questioning, accepted she would have had both documents but didn’t read either.

“Had I been aware of this advice I certainly would have considered whether that (external legal advice) needed to be considered,” she said.

On July 2017 Ms Musolino also sent off an email outlining a speech made by Peter Hanks KC at an administrative law conference where he asserted Robodebt was unlawful and should be tested in the federal court.

She did not make mention of the substantial legal risk Mr Hank had canvassed, and later conceded she “could have been more detailed” and “provided more analysis” at the time.

Former Coalition Minister Stuart Robert will front the inquiry for the first time on Thursday.