And the biggest compo payout for Robodebt victims is … Scott Morrison!

Compare the composition of robodebt victims to the amount of Scott Morrison’s publicly funded legal fees. This is a shame, according to reports Rex Patrick.

He knew!

Scott Morrison was the minister who took Robodebt to the Cabinet for approval.

“Mr Morrison knew…“, wrote the Robodebt Royal Commissioner. He knew that “income averaging” was the primary basis for Robodebt and ” [Department of Social Security] had recommended [Department of Human Services] Legislative change is required to implement the DHS proposal in this way.”.

“… Mr Morrison had no right to rely on the contradictory contents of this report without further questioning. [New Policy Proposal] On the question about the legal status of DSS when he proposed NPP to the EU [Expenditure Review Committee of Cabinet].

“The proper management of his Department required him to investigate why DSS appeared to have reversed its position on the need for legislative change without any explanation. If he had asked Ms. Wilson, she would have said it was because DHS had (apparently) reversed its position on the use of income averaging. She chose not to investigate.”

The commissioner continued: “Mr Morrison allowed the Cabinet to be misled by failing to make this obvious inquiry”.

Morrison denied responsibility.

In fact, he flatly rejected the findings of the Royal Commission into his involvement in one of Australia’s biggest cases of public sector mismanagement.

personal compensation

In early December, Gordon Legal sent a letter to members of the Robodebt Federal Court class action informing them of the notice of the proposed settlement.

Depending on the class action member’s category—someone who owns only one Robodebt, someone who has a series of debts that include a Robodebt, someone who has paid off some but not all of the Robodebt, someone who has repaid more, and family members of deceased victims—

compensation will range from $350 to $1000 or $750 to $1750.

There are some differences for cases of non-economic loss where a victim may be able to receive compensation of up to $20,000 and up to $50,000 in cases of physical or psychiatric injury.

Pollie compensation

Potential payouts to robodebt victims aren’t the only payouts in the wake of this public administration train wreck.

The attorney general’s office this week revealed internal documents relating to the payment of Robodebt compensation to Scott Morrison to pay his legal bills.

$461,445 of taxpayers’ money was gifted to Morrison to protect himself from liability and consequences.

Freedom of Information request

MWMIn the Right to Information Request submitted to the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, access to the following information was requested:All documents received, created or sent after 16 June 2023 in relation to the payment of Mr Morrison’s legal costs (including correspondence and invoices between Mr Morrison and AGD)”.

The Ministry took 83 days to respond to the request and found 35 documents that fell within the scope of the request. Only two documents were published.

Many were rejected outright and the rest were full of redactions; including that they are intentional in nature (normally code for “embarrassing the authorities”) and involve privacy.

The decision is ripe for appeal.

Are more taxpayer-funded legal fees pending?

To be fair to the Attorney General’s Office, they agreed that more than two documents would be submitted to MWM. The ten documents are being hidden from public view because “some third parties objected to the publication of certain material in the documentsThey have 30 days to appeal the ministry’s decision.

I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that Mr Morrison is one of the parties.

The circular question could arise if Morrison becomes a third party and appoints lawyers to challenge the Department’s access decision…

Will the government pay his legal fees for his FOI challenge?

Attorney General Mark Dreyfus’s approval of taxpayer payment of Morrison’s legal fees on October 28, 2022 “In relation to all aspects of the Royal Commissionsuggests that it may be.

Excerpt from Mark Dreyfus’s confirmation dated 28 October 2022 (Source: FOI)

If Morrison appeals, I’m sure it will fail. In a head-to-head fight with him in 2021, I publicly refuted his claim that he had the right to full confidentiality of National Cabinet information.

To be fair, his five secret ministerial appointments eluded me. My defense on this is simple… who could have imagined it?

Robodebt victims hard to exonerate as NACC investigates itself

Rex Patrick is a former South Australian Senator and formerly a submariner in the armed forces. Known as an anti-corruption and transparency warrior, Rex is also known as “Transparency Warrior“