Alan Tudge faces questions over response to suicide of robodebt victims – video

Asked whether ‘questions of accuracy’ and the ‘reversal of onus’ were significant to people faced with debts raised by the illegal robodebt scheme, former human services minister Alan Tudge says that welfare compliance ‘has to be done sensitively’ with ‘reasonable opportunities for everybody’. Referencing the suicide of Rhys Cauzzo, Tudge says he knew from experience of people ‘close to me’ that you ‘can’t always know what causes’ somebody to take their own life, and he had sought an investigation because he was concerned and wanted to know what happened. Tudge goes on to say that he did not have authority to overturn the decision of cabinet to implement robodebt