Скачать или смотреть Govt denies Robodebt scheme was illegal

Human Services Minister Stuart Robert has dodged questions over whether the government's discredited Robodebt scheme is illegal during a heated exchange during Question Time on Wednesday.

The government will refund $721 million of debt to almost 400,000 people after the Federal Court found the Robodebt system used income averaging - which was found to be a flawed way to calculate to debts.

The refunds come as the government faces a Federal Court class action against the scheme, which was enacted in 2015.

Attorney General Christian Porter conceded the Robodebt system was flawed but refused to apologise for the matter while litigation was still ongoing.

"As the member knows on 19 November last year I did a press conference to indicate that we were pausing all recoveries for debts raised by income averaging," Mr Robert told parliament during Question Time on Wednesday.

"The attorney general also made clear on the Insiders interview that income averaging is a long-standing practice of governments going back decades."

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