Just as dumbfounding as #Robodebt continuing after a senate inquiry findings (which prompted an ato officer to send that cease and desist email on averaging) no one did
Rick covering the RC into Robodebt
Robodebt inquiry hears ATO's threat to 'shut down' scheme
The robo-debt royal commission has found the scheme was sustained by ‘venality, incompetence and cowardice’. By Rick Morton.
Robo-debt royal commission ends in criminal referrals
First robodebt royal commission scalp confirmed at PwC
PwC partners Terrence Weber and Thai Bowe and PwC director Frank van Hagen “were each of the understanding, or belief, that DHS was aware that PwC was preparing a report that was separate from the presentation to the minister”.
“In contrast, [PwC partner Shane] West gave evidence to the effect that he could not recall DHS ever having knowledge that PwC was preparing the detailed report that it had been drafting.
“However, Mr West later accepted, in submissions to the commission ... it was likely that DHS was aware that PwC was preparing a draft report separate from the presentation, and in a more detailed format. That was a prudent and realistic concession.
Commissioner rejects PwC partner’s oral evidence
Hot potato 🥔 as Dao used to say …at Equifax The robodebt scheme was passed like a hot potato up the line of Coalition ministers – but who will be held responsible?
- The 990-page report includes 57 recommendations – the culmination of hundreds of hours of evidence and nearly a million documents
- A sealed chapter, separate to the bound report, recommends referrals of individuals for civil and criminal prosecution
- The report has now been released to the public
Commissioner Catherine Holmes branded the former Coalition government's debt-raising scheme an "extraordinary saga" of "venality, incompetence and cowardice".
"The report paints a picture of how the Robodebt [scheme] ... was put together on an ill-conceived, embryonic idea," Commissioner Holmes wrote.
"It is remarkable how little interest there seems to have been in ensuring the scheme's legality, how rushed its implementation was, how little thought was given to how it would affect welfare recipients and the lengths to which public servants were prepared to go to oblige ministers on a quest for savings."
Robodebt royal commission findings revealed, individuals referred for criminal prosecution
‘It was so shocking’: why robodebt’s dark legacy will linger long after royal commission report
The Robodebt findings have been handed down – what happens next and who was deemed responsible?
When Australian Council of Social Service chief executive Cassandra Goldie gave an interview in January 2017 warning that the scheme was raising inaccurate debts and should be terminated, the report finds Campbell was not interested in these substantive issues but rather the possibility of obtaining a “good line for us to use in the future” in the media.