Government lawyer did not turn his mind to ‘significant consequences’ of continuing robodebt, inquiry told

Royal commission hears Paul Menzies-McVey was awaiting ‘definitive advice’ from the solicitor general on robodebt’s legality

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A top departmental lawyer has told a royal commission he didn’t turn his mind to the consequences for welfare recipients of continuing the robodebt scheme while awaiting further legal advice, despite what he conceded was “undesirable uncertainty” about its legality throughout 2019.

The commission 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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