Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull faces questioning on Robodebt, appearing today via video link at the Brisbane royal commission into the illegal scheme.
In one message delivered to Mr Turnbull on January 20, 2017, Mr Tudge wrote: "PM, Tas minister calling for Centrelink system to be stopped. She is aligned to Abetz. She didn't speak to me at all. Just wanted to let you know. Alan".Other messages sent about one week earlier to then attorney-general Christian Porter show Mr Turnbull was concerned about the automatic issuing of Robodebt letters, warning him that "we don't want missteps with pensioners".
In a message to Mr Turnbull on January 13, 2017, Mr Porter explained that his office staff were present in briefings with Mr Tudge and the Department of Human Services about the scheme's rollout.Mr Porter said he thought "more should have been known about the system design before its implementation".
He went on to say there were conversations about pausing the scheme, but noted that doing so "would be the absolute worst strategic move". "The best course is to slow down to minimise problems in the next round of letters and fix issues quickly and silently behind the scenes – the more serious shortcomings can be fixed by a range of changes which are now being actioned – focusing the next mail out only on current welfare recipients will also minimise problems arising from old addresses information being on file ..."
Mr Porter also said: "… the media issues are largely contained to Fairfax and ABC [sic] the advocacy against the program will linger for those two outlets but the media temperature on the issue has notably declined and it is not a story being pursued outside Fairfax and ABC".
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