When Guardian Australia reported in August 2019 that the Morrison government was considering an expansion of the robodebt scheme to pensioners and vulnerable people, Stuart Robert responded through a spokesperson: “The government is not considering any proposal to commence online compliance for vulnerable Australians.”
But on Thursday Robert told a royal commission that the leaked documents were real, that there was in fact such a proposal, one he thought at the time was “madness” and one he had managed to “deftly” delay. Robert said he had faced pressure to bring forward a plan to achieve robodebt’s budget savings from the cabinet secretary, who acted on behalf of the prime minister – that is, Scott Morrison.
