Taking a moment to read through some of his favourite files following his resignation from parliament, former Social Services Minister Alan Tudge said he’ll miss the times he and his team sought to systematically destroy the reputation of welfare recipients who had the audacity to complain about the Robodebt scheme.
“Those were the days,” he said, flipping through a series of case studies his office had prepared and sent to friendly media in order to intimidate Robodebt complainants. “Look at all these little people and their little lives. Oh and look – here are their private interactions with Centrelink that we sent onto journalists. God I’m going to miss this place.
“Ah and this one! Who could forget this one?” he said to staff, as he recalled the time his office released the personal Centrelink file of a welfare recipient who had recently taken his own life. “All in the name of ‘correcting the public record’ of course!”
Tudge then moved to sorting through files from his campaign to oppose same-sex marriage, as well photos from the time he had an affair while married.
