Labor has called for a royal commission into the Morrison government’s flawed “robodebt” scheme

Labor will on Tuesday call for a royal commission into the Morrison government’s ‘robodebt’ welfare debacle.

Labor is calling for a royal commission into the so-called robodebt scandal after the Morrison government revealed it would refund more than $720 million raised through the scheme. Picture: Getty

Labor will call for a royal commission into the Morrison government’s “robodebt” welfare over­payment scheme a month after Government Services Minister Stuart Robert conceded the ­system was “not sufficient under law”.

Anthony Albanese and his ­social services spokesman, Bill Shorten, plan to heap pressure on Scott Morrison to deliver an inquiry into the scrapped scheme that matched Australian Taxation Office and Centrelink data to claw back overpaid welfare payments, raising nearly 470,000 debts at a cost of $721 m.

With a class action over the scheme pending, Mr Robert last month announced that all welfare payments the government had recovered would be repaid, with interest and recovery fees.

Labor says it is not enough.

“Up to three-quarters of a million Australians were targeted for four long years by this government in a bid to artificially boost the budget bottom line,” Labor said. “The Prime Minister himself was the architect of this cruel scheme designed to extract $1.5bn in unlawful debts from the Australian people.”

They say a royal commission would shed light on critical questions that might otherwise go ­unanswered.

Labor wants to get to the bottom of key issues such as who came up with the scheme, when the government first learned it was unlawful and how many ­Australians have taken their own lives after being pursued by the government.

“A royal commission could also make recommendations — including for law reform — on the sole use of “data matching” and automated processes,” Labor said.

“Australians deserve the truth. Australians deserve action to stop this from happening again.”

The Prime Minister last week apologised for any “hurt or harm” people suffered as a result of the scheme during question time.

The apology came in response to a question from Mr Shorten about a cancer-suffering grandfather who was pursued for a $2300 robodebt while receiving treatment in hospital.

“We would hope all agents of the government when pursuing the debt recovery option … would be sensitive to people’s circumstances,” Mr Morrison said.

The system was ruled unlawful last year, the court saying Centre­link could not have been satisfied the debt was correct.