Government lawyers who flagged the original Robodebt proposal as illegal later "appeared to come under pressure" from then Social Services Minister Scott Morrison to provide advice about the scheme so it could be submitted to the Finance Department, the royal commission has been told.

The commission, which is being held in Brisbane, is looking into the bungled scheme known as Robodebt which wrongly claimed hundreds of thousands of welfare recipients owed debts to Centrelink through a process of income averaging.

The inquiry heard evidence from Anne Pulford, a principal legal officer within the Department of Social Services, who had been involved in the preparation of 2014 legal advice that indicated the proposed scheme was potentially illegal.

The inquiry was told lawyers in Ms Pulford's team provided more advice in 2015 because the Department of Human Services was advised "Mr Morrison indicated he wants a number of potential proposals in an attached briefing be brought forward for portfolio budget statements".

Ms Pulford agreed with counsel assisting Justin Greggery KC: "That it appeared pressure was coming from a clearance by Minister Morrison to have a new policy proposal developed to the point where it might be submitted to the Department of Finance". 

She agreed the advice was being sought in relation to proposals such as the capability to detect, investigate and prosecute suspected fraud and noncompliance in the context of social welfare payments.

They also included the "utilisation of new technology to increase data analytics, complex network analysis and geospatial analysis and establishing a capability for real-time monitoring and risk profiling".

The inquiry was shown internal emails between lawyers within the Social Services Department in 2015 relating to a draft brief being prepared for Mr Morrison.

The emails referred to Mr Morrison requesting the Human Services Department "bring forward proposals to strengthen the integrity of the welfare system".

The emails went on to say the social security performance and analysis branch had provided comments highlighting the need for legislative change as well as the shift away from underlying principles of social security law.

Under questioning from Mr Greggery, Ms Pulford acknowledged the emails were seeking advice about what legislative changes were needed to get the proposal up and running.

Other emails revealed the need to provide preliminary advice to the Finance Department within just two days – a timeline that Ms Pulford agreed was "short".

The Commission before Catherine Holmes SC continues.