‘Get him out’: Neil Mitchell slams Scott Morrison’s role in ‘grubby’ robodebt scheme

As former Prime Minister Scott Morrison continues enjoying his Italian holiday, back in Australia Melbourne radio host Neil Mitchell has joined the chorus of voices demanding that the “disgraced” ex-PM be kicked out of Parliament for his involvement in the robodebt scheme.

Speaking on his popular 3AW morning radio program on Monday, July 10, Mitchell insisted that Morrison, who was the Social Services Minister at the time the scheme was implemented, should resign.

“Scott Morrison’s the main problem. He’s still in Parliament and this grubby scheme has got his fingerprints all over it,” he told listeners.

“He should resign, express his deep regret and concern for the people this has hurt.

“Decency demands it, the credibility of the Parliament demands it.”

The bombshell report found that Morrison neglected his responsibilities as a minister regarding a “crude and cruel” illegal system.

The purpose of the system was to verify that beneficiaries were accurately reporting their income to prevent overpayment of welfare funds.

However, approximately 443,000 people receiving benefits received false letters accusing them of owing money to the government as a result of the program’s implementation, which allegedly led to numerous suicides.

According to Mitchell, the outcome of the report shows that Morrison is not fit to be a member of Parliament.

“An independent royal commissioner has accused him of lying, or at best misleading the commission under oath,” he said.

“Which potentially opens him up to action for perjury. Potentially, we don’t know what will happen.

“But this is not the type of person we want sitting in the Parliament, he’s got to go.”

Mitchen then went on to challenge Peter Dutton, who previously said he won’t be asking Morrison to resign, to oust the former PM and “get new talent”.

“Tell him to go publicly, no more deals. The former prime minister should be out in disgrace,” he said.

“This is the same man who swore himself into various portfolios and didn’t bother telling his closes colleagues.

“He is discredited, disgraced. Get him out and get in somebody who adds something meaningful to the Parliament. Get new talent.”

Since the release of the report, Morrison has denied any wrongdoings, saying he “rejects completely each of the findings which are critical of [his] involvement in authorising the scheme and are adverse to [him]”.

“They are wrong, unsubstantiated and contradicted by clear documentary evidence presented to the commission,” his statement reads.

“It is unfortunate that these findings fail to acknowledge the proper functioning of government and cabinet processes in the face of not only my evidence as a former prime minister, and cabinet minister for almost nine years, but also the evidence of other cabinet ministers.”