A former human services minister who oversaw the controversial and unlawful Robodebt scheme has told a royal commission it wasn’t his job to check if the program was legal.
The Robodebt scheme recovered more than $750,000 from more than 380,000 people – several people taking their own lives after receiving debt notices.
In 2021, $1.5 Billion in unlawful debts were wiped after hundreds of welfare recipients settled with the government.
Mr Tudge served as human services between 2016 and 2017 and on Wednesday told a royal commission investigating the scheme that he was not responsible for the scheme’s legality – but rather departmental matters.
Mr Tudge said it was unfathomable an illegal scheme would be implemented.
