Australia, insurance, car, home, live, holidays

Former prime minister Scott Morrison wants to overturn a cabinet secrecy bid to defend himself before the robo-debt royal commission.Credit:Rhett Wyman

Morrison was social services minister when the robo-debt scheme was established in 2015 and prime minister when it was wound back in late 2019 after its income-averaging debt calculation method was ruled to be unlawful.

Morrison’s bid to use the confidential documents is being opposed by the Commonwealth because it is against the public interest to reveal cabinet deliberations.

Morrison’s barrister Dr James Renwick said a public interest immunity claim over cabinet material would cause “enormous practical difficulties” and could prevent the former prime minister from being treated fairly by the commission.

“His reputation is on the line,and he is entitled to answer the[compulsory] notice in a complete fashion,” Renwick told the commission.

The commissioner,former Queensland Supreme Court chief justice Catherine Holmes,questioned why Morrison needed to refer to cabinet material and said she had to weigh up Morrison’s interests against the public interest in keeping cabinet documentation secret.

Morrison’s bid to reveal cabinet papers followed evidence presented to the commission that revealed that the Human Services department received advice that robo-debt was not lawful eight months before a federal court judge found the scheme was illegal in November 2019.

The hearing was shown tranches of legal advice about the automated debt raising scheme,including lengthy documentation that there was no statutory basis for using income averaging to recoup payments.

The advice was provided in relation to Federal Court proceedings launched by Melbourne nurse Madeleine Masterton over $4000 the Department of Human Services alleged she owed,a claim the department eventually withdrew in May 2019,with the case being dropped.

In an April 10,2019,a document compiled for the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet by the DHS’s former general manager of customer compliance,Craig Storen,raised the prospect of introducing legislation to legalise robo-debt’s income averaging.

Dr James Renwick argued Morrison’s case in a hearing on Tuesday.Credit:Screenshot

Storen,who appeared before the royal commission in Brisbane on Tuesday,said he didn’t recall whether the document had been provided to the prime minister’s department. “My assumption is a more polished version is likely to have gone to PM and C,but I don’t recall,” he said.

Income averaging involved the system taking annual income data and averaged it over 26 fortnights,presuming income was the same across each,and put the onus on welfare recipients to prove they didn’t owe the government money.

On March 27,the department was advised that Masterton had a good prospect of winning her case as incoming averaging wouldn’t prove she owed a debt.

“There is no statutory basis in the SSA[Social Security Act],or related legislation,for deeming apportioned fortnightly income[income averaging] to be accurate or provide a sufficient basis on which to raise and pursue a debt,” the advice said.

The government solicitors’ advice noted that while it was prepared for the Masterton claim,“we are conscious the conclusion we have reached ... has broader implications.”

In late November 2019,the government settled with another woman,Deanna Amato,conceding in agreed orders delivered by a Federal Court judge that an alleged $2,500 debt was unlawful.

The orders stated the debt wasn’t “validly made” because income averaging didn’t satisfy the Social Security Act.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news,views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley.Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.

License this article