In a parliamentary address today, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said “the business of raising and recovering debts on behalf of taxpayers is a difficult job”.
“I would deeply regret any hardship that has been caused to people in the conduct of that activity.”
According to the Prime Minister, the government has many difficult jobs – “dealing with Australians of very sensitive circumstances and that is true, particularly at this time”.
“It is our instruction that we would hope that all agents of the government, when pursuing the debt recovery option, that they would be sensitive to people’s circumstances.”
Referring to an example raised by Opposition Leader Bill Shorten of a cancer patient who was pursued for a robodebt-generated debt while in hospital, Mr Morrison said such a situation is “very distressing”.
“I would apologise to any[one] hurt or harmed in the way that the government has dealt with the issue and to anyone else who’s found themselves in those situations,” he stated.
It comes after the government indicated it would be taking steps to refund $721 million from 470,000 debt notices last month.
At the time, the government copped criticism for not issuing an apology, despite acknowledging the illegality of the scheme.
A statement from Stuart Robert, the minister for government services, simply stated that “the Morrison government takes its responsibility for upholding the integrity of Australia’s welfare system seriously”.
In today’s apology, Mr Morrison said, “Where there are lessons to be learned here, they will be learned.”
More to come.
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