CANBERRA, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Australia's Parliament has apologized to the victims of an illegal government debt collection scheme.
The lower house of parliament -- the House of Representatives -- on Thursday afternoon voted in favor of a motion brought by Bill Shorten, the minister for Government Services, that the house accept the findings of the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme.
The inquiry handed down its final report in July, finding that the automated debt-raising scheme was "crude and cruel."
Shorten expressed deep regret to the victims of the scheme.
Launched in 2015, the Robodebt Scheme came to an end in 2020 after the Federal Court found that it was unlawful in late 2019.
The three-volume, 990-page report includes 57 recommendations and a separate sealed chapter recommending the referral of individuals for civil action or criminal prosecution.
"Robodebt was a crude and cruel mechanism, neither fair nor legal, and it made many people feel like criminals," said the report in July.
PM Anthony Albanese said in July that the Royal Commission report was another step toward delivering justice for the more than 500,000 victims of the Robodebt Scheme. ■
