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

Senate committee calls for royal commission into robodebt scandal

Scott Morrison Greens Labor Janet Rice Centrelink Coalition Guardian Australia
Nathan Kearney received two robodebt notices, which forced him to move back in with his parents for two years. A Senate inquiry has called for a royal commission into the scheme.
Nathan Kearney received two robodebt notices, which forced him to move back in with his parents for two years. A Senate inquiry has called for a royal commission into the scheme. Photograph: David Kelly/The Guardian

A Senate committee has called for a royal commission into the robodebt scandal, accusing the government and its departments of the “deliberate withholding” of information about the botched scheme.

The Labor-Greens majority committee, chaired by the Greens’ Janet Rice, found the Centrelink debt recovery program it said was announced by Scott Morrison in 2015 had “indiscriminately targeted some of Australia’s most vulnerable people”.

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