‘Totally regrettable’: ScoMo sorry for robodebt

Scott Morrison says the controversial robodebt scheme would have been shut down earlier if cabinet had been told it was unlawful.

Scott Morrison says the unlawful robodebt scheme which unlawfully forced thousands of welfare recipients to repay debts they didn’t owe was regrettable, but he stopped short of calling it immoral.

Mr Morrison was the social services minister when the unlawful program was introduced in 2015 and the prime minister when it was discontinued in 2019.

“It is totally regrettable and it is a very sad thing that has occurred,” he told ABC TV’s 7.30 program.

“I only wish that at the time when we were advised that it was unlawful.”

He said it wasn’t until he was prime minister when he was told it was unlawful “and then shut it down.”

But when pushed on if he thought the scheme was also immoral, he said “the outcome was very different from what was intended.”

The scheme cost the commonwealth nearly $1.8bn in written-off debts and compensation paid to victims who mounted a class-action lawsuit.

The families of some robodebt victims have alleged their relatives took their own lives after being notified of and, in some cases, pursued over the Centrelink debts they supposedly owed.

A screen grab of former Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaking before the Royal Commission into Robo Debt in Brisbane.

Mr Morrison in December told the royal commission in December that by the time he took the policy proposal to cabinet in early 2015, the Department of Social Services had changed its view and advised that legislation was not required.

The commission has already heard the Department of Human Services – which was in charge of running the robodebt scheme – pressed ahead with the illegal program in part to meet its goal of recouping an estimated $1.2bn from Centrelink customers.

Mr Morrison said achieving budget balance was not the major driver for the scheme and that he had sought to shore up the “integrity of the welfare system” when he became social services minister.

The royal commission into the scheme has finished public hearings and will hand down over its report to the government at the end of June.