Parliament apologises to Robodebt victims, but Coalition does not

Parliament has formally apologised to the victims of Robodebt and committed to ensuring the incident is never repeated.

NDIS and Government Services Minister Bill Shorten. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Parliament has formally apologised to the victims of Robodebt and committed to ensuring the incident is never repeated, with Liberal MP Bridget Archer crossing the floor to support Labor’s ­motion.

The Coalition on Thursday voted against the move to accept the findings of the royal commission into Robodebt, many of which went to the behaviour of former Liberal ministers involved in the scheme.

Government Services Minister Bill Shorten said the opposition had acted with “a sense of denialism” during the royal commission process and an apology from the whole parliament over the scheme was needed.

“Ceasing the scheme after 4½ years is not enough. The royal commission is not enough,” he said. “This resolution is not about Labor versus Liberal, it’s about those who think Robodebt was illegal, unlawful (and) a war on the poor against those who are so emotionally bound up in defending their term in government that they just can’t hear anything else.”

The government’s motion passed 88 to 51.

“Ultimately it’s a matter for the government to formally respond to the royal commission. However, I accept the findings of the commission and as I have previously said, all parliamentarians have a responsibility to work together to ensure this shameful chapter is not repeated,” Ms Archer told The Australian.

Despite delivering a speech earlier this week that said Robodebt “offended” liberal values, Liberal MP Keith Wolahan voted against the motion.

Robodebt ran from 2015 to 2019 and wrongfully recovered $750m from 380,000 people using an automated income averaging system.

Manager of Opposition Business Paul Fletcher extended the Coalition’s apologies to those who received unlawful debt notices but he said Mr Shorten’s motion was “inconsistent in taking seriously the work of the royal commission”. He moved an amendment to the motion seeking to recognise that the Morrison government cancelled Robodebt once it was aware of the issues with the scheme. The amendment was voted down by Labor, which has the numbers in the house.

Mr Fletcher said the government motion was an unneeded distraction to real issues, such as inflation and cost of living ­pressures.

Labor has used the last parliamentary sitting fortnight to launch a series of attacks on the former government and character of ministers at the time, including Scott Morrison.

Mr Morrison has rejected findings against him made by the royal commission and said Labor had weaponised the “quasi-legal process” of the commission and engaged in a “campaign of political lynching”.

The Greens attempted to refer Mr Morrison to the parliamentary privileges committee earlier this week, over his statements following the release of royal commission's report.