The Australian government set up a system to demand that poor people "repay" supposedly erroneous "excess" welfare payments. The system imposed false charges on many poor people, and the ministers let it continue until a court made it stop. Now it looks like the court may require the government to pay interest as well as returning the false "excess".

Dunning poor people for money you said you were giving them is cruel, stingy and vile, even if you really had given it by mistake.

Will the ministers learn their lesson from this? There is nothing more stubborn than a right-winger demanding money from a pauper.