The outcome of a highly anticipated 13-month inquiry into the conduct of current and former bureaucrats involved in the illegal robodebt scheme has been released.
The Australian Public Service Commission’s report marks the formal end of the agency’s investigation into what public servants responsible for devising and running the scheme knew and how they acted.
The royal commission’s report in July 2023 labelled the scheme “crude and cruel”, “neither fair nor legal” and a “costly failure of public administration”.
In a sealed section hidden from unauthorised eyes, the royal commissioner Catherine Holmes made a series of referrals of those involved to other bodies for civil action or criminal prosecution.
One of those bodies was the APSC, leading us to its final report released on Friday. Here’s what we know.
What does the APSC report say?
On Friday, the taskforce’s report found 12 of the 16 public servants initially referred to the taskforce had breached the code of conduct on 97 occasions.
Two of those – the only bureaucrats named – were former secretaries Kathryn Campbell and Renée Leon, who together were responsible for 25 breaches.
The report substantiated six findings against Campbell, who was secretary of the Department of Human Services (DHS) from 2011 to 2017. She was found culpable for 12 breaches, including a failure to “sufficiently respond to public criticism” and having “created and allowed a culture” that prevented issues from being considered.
Four findings were made against Leon, who was the human services secretary from 2017 to 2020. They detailed 13 breaches of the code of conduct, including that she failed to “expeditiously” inform her minister and colleagues of the solicitor general’s advice on the lawfulness of the scheme and failed to cease the practice of income averaging under the scheme.
The remaining 10 public servants, of which most were senior executives, collectively breached the code 72 times. The report said some of the actions related to failing to escalate reasonable concerns about legality, expressly directing staff not to work with those who were committed to accurate advice and misleading ministers and senior officials on the scheme’s lawfulness.
The Australian Public Service commissioner, Gordon de Brouwer, said the scheme was “a failure of government” and apologised for the public service’s role in it.
Why are there so few sanctions?
While the report’s language is quite scathing, just four of the 12 – those still employed in the APS – will face sanctions for their actions, ranging from reprimands to fines and demotions.
This is because while the APSC can still make findings against the actions of public servants who have since left, it cannot sanction them.
Campbell and Leon will be required to disclose the report’s findings, if asked, should they seek employment with the APS over the next five years.
The remaining six people will also need to disclose the adverse findings for the next five years upon any attempt to return to a federal government agency.
The public service head defended against questions about whether accountability had been achieved by the review, saying it’s a “big” deal that two former secretaries had been named.
“It’s not an insider-looking-after-insider game,” De Brouwer said.
Asked whether any honours medals the 12 might have should be stripped, De Brouwer said it was not for him to comment.
How have people reacted?
In a statement on Friday, Leon, who joined the humans services department in 2017, said she was “disappointed” by the report’s findings, adding the unlawful scheme had already been operating for two years when she joined the department.
“I acted as expeditiously as possible to convince a government that was wedded to the robodebt scheme that it had to be ceased,” she said.
The chancellor of Charles Sturt University, Michele Allan, threw her full support behind Leon, who is now the university’s vice-chancellor, describing her efforts to stop robodebt in 2019 as “courageous”.
Meanwhile, the public service and finance minister, Katy Gallagher, commended the APSC review for being “robust, independent and fair”.
“Some former departmental secretaries and public servants made mistakes, showed a lack of care, diligence, integrity and leadership, and they are being held to account for the part they played in the robodebt failure.”
However, the Community and Public Sector Union national secretary, Melissa Donnelly, said it was “incredibly disappointing” to see so few consequences for those who had since left the public service.
“While the likes of Kathryn Campbell move on with their lives without sanction, our members continue to deal with the consequences of the scheme on those communities they serve and the loss of public trust,” she said.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission, which decided not to look into the six individuals referred to it, said it is “reviewing” the report’s findings and “considering” the implications.
“It is open to the APSC to refer matters to the commission if it believes there is serious or systemic corrupt conduct. The commission is not aware of any such referral,” a spokesperson said.
Will the royal commission’s sealed section remain sealed?
As we mentioned earlier, the names of those referred by the royal commission to bodies for potential civil and criminal action remain sealed from public view.
In addition to the 16 sent to the APSC, an undisclosed number were referred to other bodies, including the Nacc, the Law Society of the ACT and the Australian federal police.
In June, the Nacc announced it would not pursue any investigation into the six individuals referred to it for their role in the robodebt scheme. Five of those referred were also being looked at by the APSC’s taskforce.
In the absence of any further known investigations, and with some of the scheme’s victims feeling justice hasn’t been achieved, there have been calls to unseal the sealed section.
At the time of the royal commission report’s release, the government services minister, and an advocate for robodebt victims, Bill Shorten, declared “there will be accountability”.
Shorten later said keeping the names secret after investigations into them had been completed was not a “sustainable” position.
In August, Shorten said he had not “won” the argument in convincing his colleagues to publicly release the sealed section.
The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, told the National Press Club in July 2024 ongoing processes meant the government hadn’t quite closed the curtain on the robodebt royal commission’s response.
“I think you should keep asking the question, maybe ask me again in a year’s time, but we’re not quite done,” he said.
Guardian Australia asked the attorney general’s office for a response on the matter in August but was referred to his previous answer.
