‘Poured a whole heap of petrol’: Why PwC $1m Robodebt audit was meant to be kept secret

A $1m audit of the Robodebt scheme by a major consulting firm was never meant to see the light of day, a senior bureaucrat has said, because it would have “poured a whole heap of petrol” on a media firestorm.

An external audit of the controversial Robodebt scheme by one of Australia’s largest consulting firms was never meant to see the light of day a senior bureaucrat has said, because its findings would have “poured a whole heap of petrol” on a media firestorm.

But the mystery of why PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) handed in a few PowerPoint slides but not a full report, despite being paid nearly $1m in 2017 to look into the unlawful Centrelink debt recovery scheme, remains unsolved.

The Royal Commission into Robodebt, helmed by Commissioner Catherine Holmes AC SC, is in its final week of hearings as it works to determine how the illegal program came to be in and kept going despite numerous red flags it was unlawful.

The program 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 Department of Human Services general manager Jason McNamara, who in documents previously shown to the inquiry admitted to PwC no one in the department comprehensively understood how the program worked, was recalled to give evidence on Monday.

Commissioner Catherine Holmes at the royal commission into the Robodebt scheme

Counsel Assisting Angus Scott KC moved to determine whether Mr McNamara had directed PwC not to hand in the scathing reported which outlined how the program was deeply flawed.

Mr McNamara rejected this notion though he conceded the report was never meant to be made public, as per the direction of his boss Kathryn Campbell and the minister responsible at the time — Alan Tudge.

“This report they were doing … was never to become public under any circumstances,” Mr McNamara said.

“So on what basis was an FOI application going to be resisted or didn’t you get that far?” Commissioner Holmes asked.

Mr McNamara responded that it would go “to Cabinet” and thus be covered under those confidentiality rules.

Asked why he was instructed to ensure PwC’s work did not become public, Mr McNamara said it was because the department at the time was “the story in the news” and the findings would have “just poured a whole heap of petrol on it”.

The 97-page draft report was never finished nor submitted, with the department instead telling PwC it considered a short-form presentation they had delivered to be enough.

None of the four people who were PwC employees in 2017 nor bureaucrats who have appeared before the Commissioner have been able to clarify why, when or who decided this would be okay.

Originally published as ‘Poured a whole heap of petrol’: Why PwC $1m Robodebt audit was meant to be kept secret