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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Luke Henriques-Gomes Social affairs and inequality editor

Former social services official told to ‘tone down’ robodebt legal concerns, inquiry hears

DHS DSS Malisa Golightly Kathryn Campbell Mark Withnell Scott Morrison
DSS official Andrew Whitecross gives evidence to the robodebt royal commission.
Former DSS official Andrew Whitecross says he told acting deputy secretary Catherine Halbert the robodebt scheme ‘lacked merit’. Photograph: Robodebt royal commission

A former Department of Social Services official has told a royal commission he was “directed” to “tone down” legal concerns about the robodebt scheme when the proposal was designed in early 2015.

The inquiry is investigating why and how the unlawful Centrelink debt recovery scheme was established in 2015 and ran until November 2019, ending in a $1.8bn settlement with hundreds of thousands of victims.

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