Regardless of whether Robodebt was a good idea or bad, regardless of whether it was legal or illegal,
the point is government ignored the concerns raised by competent people at the time.
The issue being about government ignoring advice, not what the advice was or whether the idea was good or not, but that the government ignored the advice it was given.
There doesn't seem to be anything to prevent doing that with the Voice, just as it's routinely done with everything from the environment to roads.
Robodebt is a particularly bad example, but it's not the only such incident that's killed someone and/or brought about serious impacts.
My point is simply about ignoring advice as such.
Anyone can receive advice, governments get lots of that routinely, but it's what they do with it that counts. All too often it's a case of latching onto anything that supports a preferred outcome and ignoring or even silencing anything that doesn't.
Then there's the quality of the advice in the first place. I say that being well aware of the games that go on and that all too often an issue is "captured" by either the Minister or a senior public servant and goes down a path of, at best, taking a one sided view in order to make the preferred outcome appear to be the only credible option. At worst it ends up with outright fabrication to support the preferred outcome.
That's what consultants are for. Their job is to find arguments that support the preferred conclusion. That's why they're hired and anyone who's seen the game knows how it works. Consultant comes in, everything's done with a straight face to appear fully legitimate, but the conclusion was written before they even turned up. Everything that happens is simply a charade to tick the boxes that all options were considered, everyone was consulted and so on. BS they were.
Been there, seen this one.
Back to the point - receiving advice of itself doesn't change much. It's the quality of that advice and what's done with it that counts.
PS - As for Robodebt well it's a different subject but for the record I'm not even slightly keen on the idea. Pretty sure I said that at the time.
