Not long ago, the Australian government was forced to abandon a scheme it was using to pursue welfare recipients for money.

The robo-debt scheme was binned in 2019 after the government finally asked the solicitor-general for legal advice.

He told them what many had long suspected: it was probably unlawful.

So who else knew about the potential illegality of robo-debt? How early did they know? And why did it go ahead at all?

Today, senior reporter for The Saturday Paper Rick Morton on the robo-debt royal commission and how years of suffering could have been averted.

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Guest: Senior reporter for The Saturday Paper, Rick Morton.

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