Thread by @strangerous10

#RobodebtRC Matthew Roser, former DHS General Counsel, says he ‘can’t recall’ exactly when he became aware of a spike in adverse media reports on the legalities of #Robodebt & ‘can’t recall’ if it occurred to him that he should be checking on its lawfulness. 😳 #IRemember

“It’s not something that I specifically focused on”
“I was certainly not aware of any issues or concerns”
“Not that I recall”
“I can’t recall”

Commissioner starts to grill now on “Best available evidence” that the Dept used when they weren’t even using the best avail evidence

Roser trying to justify using best available evidence when there is “no regard to what it actually proves” (Commissioner’s words).

Roser has no real answer.

Roser being asked about attending Peter Hanks’ presentation on the legal concerns of Robodebt.

Roser agrees he was there and he heard him raise these concerns.

Angus Scott asking if that concerned him.

Roser: “It did… to an extent”

Angus Scott says it “must have been apparent” that there was a serious issue with legalities & departmental reputation

Roser agrees “Yes”

Scott: “What did you do?“

Roser says as far as he was concerned this was raised to some people after the conference including Tim Ffrench

He says he then engaged in many meetings with Annette Musolino, “It was a topic for discussion” after the conference.

Roser says he can’t recall her expressing any concerns herself.

He says in fact, can’t recall anything she said at all.

Being pushed on if he raised it with her, or anyone else.
Says he didn’t raise further concerns because he felt it was being looked after by others.

Scott says it was “obvious” there was a “substantial chance” Mr Hanks QC was correct.

Roser not keen on agreeing, but admits there was “a chance” Hanks was correct.

Scott pressing in now, as Roser claims he’s unsure if he understood how averaging worked at the time.

Commissioner asks what he thought Mr Hanks was talking about since he didn’t understand what averaging is anyway?

Roser says he didn’t understand the deep mechanics, just the general stuff

Commissioner says “no steps were taken in response to this”
Roser: “Certainly not by me”

Roser being shown the Masterton case which the government seemingly reduced the debt to avoid further legal issues.
Here is a report of the matter at the time. theguardian.com/australia-news…

Roser confirms he worked on the Masterton matter

Angus Scott now moves onto an email he received discussing the options to take for the Masterton case.
And that they consider Option 2 (being to re-calculate the debt without income averaging), as will likely end the court matter

Roser says his intentions were to resolve the matter in any efficient way possible, “as quickly as I could”
“That was my driver”

Is shown an email from a Mr Ensby (or similar), who shows a desire to end the federal court matter. Roser concedes he didn’t question/correct him.

Roser says the issue (with Masterton’s debt) was caused originally due to a “double counting” problem they had, appears to have been some known issue at the time. He can’t recall if there was another reason for the wrong debt amount.

Is shown an affidavit someone signed confirming the decision made that suggests the recalculation was being made based on “new information”

Roser says he can’t recall what this ‘new information’ was.
Commissioner giving him a shake now 💥

Just as Roser was being lashed for saying he can’t comment on if Masterton’s case was given a different outcome because it contained a Stat Dec. , we go to a morning tea 🫖 adjournment.

I’ve tried fighting it off but it’s still troubling me, I’m feeling a little off, have some symptoms, 🤒 not sure if it’s a bug or something

Im here, I’ll tweet what I can, but the ongoing commentary will cease for now from. Sorry all! Hope I feel better soon 😫