Former Liberal prime minister Scott Morrison has publicly defended his role in overseeing the unlawful robodebt scheme, rejecting the findings of a recent royal commission.
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In his first in-person comments since the release of the royal commission's final report on July 7, Mr Morrison said the findings against him were "disproportionate, wrong and unsubstantiated" and accused the Labor government of a "political lynching".
The report said Mr Morrison had "allowed cabinet to be misled" on the legality of the scheme when he was social services minister.
But Mr Morrison told parliament on Monday the findings of the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme had been contradicted by the evidence presented to it.
"I do, however, completely reject the commission's adverse findings regarding my own role as minister for social services, between December 2014 and September 2015 as disproportionate, wrong, unsubstantiated," he said.
However, he had "deep regret" for the impact the robodebt scheme had on welfare recipients.
Mr Morrison accused the Labor government of character assassination in the wake of the commission's findings.
"For the government to now condemn me for holding a view that they shared and sustained for more than three years after I held the portfolio is rank hypocrisy," he said.
"The latest attacks on my character by the government in relation to this report is just a further attempt by the government following my departure from office to discredit me and my service to our country.
"This campaign of political lynching has once again included the weaponisation of a quasi-legal process to launder the government's political vindictiveness.
"They need to move on."
Mr Morrison said he had no role or responsibility for the administration of the robodebt scheme when he was minister.
"The commission's finding unfairly and retroactively applies a consensus on the understanding of the lawful status of the scheme that simply was not present or communicated at the time," he said.
"This is clearly an unreasonable, untenable and false basis to make the serious allegation of allowing cabinet to be misled."
Liberal Leader Peter Dutton said Mr Morrison was right to put his defence before the parliament.
"Mr Morrison has put a very strong case in relation to his position," he told the ABC's 7.30 program.
"He is right to serve in parliament after having been elected at the last election."
Government Services Minister Bill Shorten told parliament the commission had rejected the evidence given by Mr Morrison.
"He may have convinced himself but he failed to convince the royal commission and indeed most Australians," he said, ahead of Mr Morrison's statement.
Mr Shorten said the government was considering all 57 recommendations put forward in the royal commission's final report.
The former coalition government launched the robodebt scheme to "detect, investigate and deter suspected welfare fraud and non-compliance" in mid-2015 in an effort to save billions of dollars.
The scheme issued debt notices to people identified through a process called income averaging, which compared reported incomes with tax office data.
More than $750 million was wrongfully recovered from 381,000 people, with victims telling the commission of their trauma and fear as they received notices and debt collectors made contact.
Commissioner Catherine Holme's report outlined a litany of human impacts, including families struggling to make ends meet and young people driven to despair. Two men in their 20s committed suicide.
Mr Morrison said he would continue to defend his time in government, adding he was pleased to be still serving his Sydney-based electorate of Cook.
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Australian Associated Press
