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AAP
AAP
Politics
Alex Mitchell

Lawyer ignored tribunal's robodebt finding

Alan Tudge Christian Porter Shane West Human Services PwC
An official told the inquiry she never read a ruling that robodebt could not legally be enforced. (Jono Searle/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

A government lawyer "explicitly" encouraged senior officials to ignore a tribunal finding that controversial robodebts could not be legally enforced.

The robodebt royal commission heard Human Services department lawyer Brian Sparkes told his staff to keep using income averaging to calculate welfare debts, even after the Administrative Appeals Tribunal ruled against it.

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