The prime minister, Scott Morrison, says his government has been focused on “making this right” after it agreed to a $1.2bn settlement over the robodebt scandal.
Gordon Legal, which brought a class action on behalf of hundreds of thousands of victims, announced on Monday a $1.2bn settlement on the day a federal court trial was set to begin.
The settlement includes $112m in additional compensation on top of refunds and other debts being wiped under an announcement made by the government in May.
Asked on Monday if he would apologise for the scheme, Morrison declined to do so again, but referred reporters to comments he made in parliament earlier in the year in which he apologised for any “hurt or harm” caused.
“I made remarks on that in the parliament earlier this year. I can only refer you back to those where I did just that.”
Morrison noted that the government had already paid back more than $700m of the $721m it promised to repay in May.
“Remember these payments have been made at the same time that working through government services and our agencies we’ve had to enlist some 1.6 million Australians on to jobseeker … but for us to still follow through on the commitments we made here to make them right, we have done exactly that and the settlement announced today is a further demonstration of that.”
Morrison rejected suggestions the government services minister, Stuart Robert, should lose his job over the scandal. Robert was not involved in the creation of the program, which was established in 2015, but has been in charge during an initial legal challenge in 2019.
“I would say that the minister has been the one working together with the attorney general [Christian Porter], having identified the issue of … making it right,” Morrison said.
“This is the same minister who ensured that 1.6 million Australians have been able to access vital income support, particularly here in Melbourne at a time of great crisis, and so to be able to deal with both of these challenges at the same time suggests to me that he’s been getting very much on top this issue and has been a key part of making it right.”
