A Senate Committee inquiring into robo-debt has labelled Reynold’s refusal to unveil the legal advice Services Australia received when implementing the scheme as an erosion of public trust.
The Senate Committee inquiring into the federal government’s bungled robo-debt system has called for a Senate resolution to compel Minister for Government Services Linda Reynolds into providing documents about the legal advice Services Australia received in implementing robo-debt. Since the end of 2019, the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs has been seeking for Services Australia and Reynolds to provide information regarding the legal advice it received in implementing the robo-debt system. Both have refused to provide that information under claims of public interest immunity. This is despite Services Australia’s claim of public interest immunity being rejected in February last year as the Senate committee said the reasons provided for that claim to exist were insufficient. The committee then similarly rejected Reynolds’ claim of public interest immunity in August.
