What we learned, Tuesday 1 November
And with that, we are going to put the blog to bed. Before we go, let’s recap today’s big stories:
Interest rates have risen for a record seventh time in as many months, with the Reserve Bank hiking its key rate by 25 basis points to 2.85%.
The treasurer Jim Chalmers said it was ‘another difficult day for Australians’ and reiterated that inflation was the ‘number one challenge’ facing the country.
The robodebt royal commission heard some staff believed the scheme could not be ‘defended in tribunal or court’.
The employment minister Tony Burke said he doesn’t want the Albanese government’s jobs bill delayed as crossbench members push for a Senate committee deadline to be extended into early next year.
Evacuations have been ordered and a series of road and bridge closures are also likely as areas of NSW once again face the threat of floods.
And Gold Trip made light of inclement weather and an early-morning attempt to sabotage the track to win the 162nd running of the Melbourne Cup.
Thank you for spending part of your day with us, we will be back tomorrow to do it all again.
Updated
The inquiry heard on Tuesday that Jones had met with several colleagues from within the Department of Social Services to discuss the DHS plan.
In an October 2014 email summary of a meeting, Jones and his colleagues agreed the proposal did not “accord” with the legislation and they could “not see how such [debt] decisions could be defended in a tribunal or court”.
Jones told the royal commission he provided the damning legal and policy advice to Andrew Whitecross, who the inquiry heard was then acting group manager of social security policy at DSS.
It is unclear who else outside the team in which Jones was part of had seen the legal or policy advice. DSS lawyer Anne Pulford, who was involved in drafting the legal advice, will give evidence on Wednesday.
Despite the misgivings with the Department of Social Services in late 2014, costings spruiking the financial benefits of the plan were worked up earlier the following year.
Jones said he did not know why these were created given the damning and legal policy advice held by DSS.
Asked by the royal commissioner Catherine Holmes why he did not say anything to his superiors at DSS when it was clear the flawed proposal was going ahead, Jones said he was “quite way down the chain”.
He said:
It’s not my role to raise [with superiors] a policy issue that’s being pursued by another department. It was a proposal being put … together by the Department of Human Services. And I don’t know their full justifications for pursuing it. I can indicate that I think it delivered savings … at a time we were trying to develop savings with the new government.
The inquiry continues.
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