Finance tried to kill robodebt go-live; Payne throws Human Services under the bus

By Julian Bajkowski

December 14, 2022

Marise Payne was human services minister at the time of robodebt. (The Mandarin)

Senior cabinet ministers had serious misgivings about key financial assumptions implicit in the robodebt scheme well before it was made policy, raising concerns about the performance and value for money being achieved through constant Department of Human Services compliance crackdowns.

The explosive revelations are contained in previously secret cabinet documents unsealed and tendered to the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme that is probing how the massive illegal welfare shakedown came into being, despite senior cabinet ministers having serious misgivings about key financial assumptions implicit in the robodebt scheme from inception.

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