Witnesses could take the stand at the robodebt royal commission as soon as the end of this year, as Labor's Bill Shorten vows to finally get to the bottom of the scandal.
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In an interview with ACM, the new government services minister has also promised to halt job cuts at Services Australia and become a champion for an agency he describes as "an invisible giant of government".
"You can't ask the people delivering the services for the government of Australia to be on the front line, and yet their political leadership is trash talking them," he said.
"So I won't do that."
Mr Shorten has been handed the government services portfolio in Anthony Albanese's first ministry, making him responsible for fixing some of the problems he helped expose during the past three years in opposition.
One of his top priorities will be to deliver Labor's election promise to set up a royal commission into robodebt before the end of 2022.
Labor has vowed to "expose the truth" of a scheme through which the Commonwealth was found to have unlawfully raised $1.73 billion in debts against more than 430,000 people.
A class action lawsuit ended with the Commonwealth agreeing to a settlement with victims worth at least $1.8 billion.
However, it has never admitted liability and former Prime Minister Scott Morrison brushed off the need for a royal commission as recently as during the election campaign.
Mr Shorten, who was instrumental in setting up the class action lawsuit, said "in an ideal world" public hearings would start this year. Labor has promised to consult on a specific terms of references before setting up the inquiry.
Part of the commission's job would be to examine the handling of complaints about the debt recovery program, including by government ministers and agencies.
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Mr Morrison, former Attorney-General Christian Porter and former Education Minister Alan Tudge each had oversight over the program at some point from 2015 onwards.
Asked if the former Coalition ministers would be called to give evidence, Mr Shorten said that would be up to the commission.
"It depends on what they did or didn't do and what they did or didn't know," he said.
"I'll leave that to the royal commission".
Mr Shorten has inherited Services Australia just months after the former Coalition government's final budget revealed plans to axe 2700 jobs at the welfare agency.
The new minister has confirmed Labor would halt the planned cuts and move to boost staffing levels as part of its broader shakeup of the public service.
While praising Services Australia boss Rebecca Skinner as a "very strong chief executive", Mr Shorten said he wanted to lift morale among the workforce.
He accused the Coalition of talking down the agency, despite it being responsible for more payments - $230 billion worth per year - than the big four banks and stepping up to support millions of Australians during the pandemic, bushfires and floods.
"Service Australia is actually an invisible giant of government in Australia," Mr Shorten said.
"I think that there's a lot of great people in Services Australia. I think they haven't had the political support they deserve."
Former minister Linda Reynolds often praised Services Australia staff during her time in the role, including during a visit last year to its operations centre in Tuggeranong.
