Senior official denies ‘manipulating the truth’ to ombudsman over legality of robodebt scheme
by Luke Henriques-Gomes Social affairs and inequality from on (#66NFE)
DSS witness faces scrutiny at royal commission over involvement in robodebt plans and evidence given to watchdog's 2017 investigation
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A public servant briefly involved in advising on a proposal for what became the robodebt scheme has denied manipulating the truth" to hide departmental knowledge about its unlawfulness from a federal watchdog.
In the most explosive questioning of a royal commission into the failed scheme so far, former Department of Social Services official Catherine Halbert was repeatedly grilled about her involvement in a 2017 ombudsman's investigation into the scheme.
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