Robodebt royal commissioner Catherine Holmes pulls few punches in her three-volume, 990-page report on the failures of the debt recovery scheme and the ministers and public servants who designed and implemented it.
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Former Department of Human Service secretary Kathryn Campbell fell short in her obligations: robodebt royal commission report. Picture: Keegan Carroll
Here are 10 key findings:
- Robodebt was "a crude and cruel mechanism, neither fair nor legal, and it made many people feel like criminals," Commissioner Holmes said. "In essence, people were traumatised on the off-chance they might owe money. It was a costly failure of public administration, in both human and economic terms."
- The commission has recommended that several individuals, whose identities have not been publicly revealed, be referred for criminal prosecution or civil action.
- The commission found former prime minister Scott Morrison was untruthful. It rejected as "untrue" Mr Morrison's evidence that he was told that income averaging used in the scheme was established practice.
- Former minister Stuart Robert went "well beyond" supporting government policy in his public defence of the scheme. "He was making statements of fact as to the accuracy of debts, citing statistics which he knew could not be right," the report said. Nothing compels ministers to knowingly make false statements, or statements which they have good reason to suspect are untrue, in the course of publicly supporting any decision or program."
- Former minister Alan Tudge used the media to discourage criticism of the scheme and inhibit scrutiny and analysis of its flaws.
- Former minister Christian Porter did not adequately acquit his duties as Social Services Minister and should "at least have directed his department to produce to him any legal advice it possessed in respect of the legislative basis of the scheme".
- Former department secretary Kathryn Campbell fell short in her obligations as a senior public servant by failing to ensure Cabinet was not misled about details of the scheme.
- There were repeated failures by senior public servants to "discharge their professional obligations and adhere to the values and standards that applied to their roles".
- The Robodebt saga exposed deep shortcomings in public administration, not least a lack of independence for department secretaries, "woefully inadequate" recordkeeping practices and a lack of understanding among public servants of their role.
- Albanese government reforms to strengthen the public service do not go far enough and processes to appoint and dismiss department secretaries should be more robust.
