Former PM Scott Morrison has been scrutinised at the Robodebt Royal Commission over the scheme to recover excessive welfare payments. Morrison has a front-row seat in the scandal because he was Social Services Minister when it was introduced in 2015, and PM when it was scrapped in 2019 when it was found to be unlawful. The issue for Morrison is whether he knew the legality of the scheme was in doubt, which he denies. But on Tuesday, former Human Services Minister Marise Payne said she knew the legislation needed to be changed for it to operate legally but wasn’t sure why Morrison didn’t know. The automated system wrongly recovered over $1.73 billion from 400,000 people, some of whom have harrowing stories of being hounded for debts. It ultimately cost the government $1.8 billion in written-off debts and compensation paid to victims. The hearings will continue until March, with Royal Commissioner Catherine Holmes due to produce a final report by 18 April 2023.