The Albanese Government says it has no concerns about the top brass of the National Anti-Corruption Commission conducting the Robodebt investigation — despite them earlier refusing to do so.
In remarkable appearance before Senate Estimates, Special Minister of State Don Farrell has given the officials the green light to run the investigation, which the NACC is now being forced to undertake in a humiliating rebuff.
“I don’t believe we have any concerns about the appropriateness of these individuals hearing this case,” Farrell told Senate Estimates.
“If somebody has been appointed to a deputy commissioner’s role then we should rightly say this person is capable of marking decision on their own behalf”.
“I’m very confident that the community should not have anything to worry about,” he said.
“I’m very confident that the community should not have anything to worry about” — Don Farrell
That appears to directly contradict the NACC’s statement last week that the “Commissioner and those Deputy Commissioners” who were “involved in the original decision not to investigate” would “not participate in the investigation”.
That’s because NACC Commissioner Paul Brereton and all three deputy commissioners — Kylie Kilgore, Ben Gauntlett and Nicole Rose — were directly involved in last year’s shock decision not to investigate.
Along with NACC CEO Philip Reed, they form the NACC’s five “statutory officers” in charge of the NACC —and who decide what it does and doesn’t investigate.
Last week, in a humiliating backflip, the NACC announced it “would investigate” over Robodebt, after an “independent reconsideration” by former High Court judge Geoffrey Nettle KC.
Yet how that will work, given the glaring conflicts of interest, has not been explained.
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Don Farrell orchestrated the stitch-up of electoral finance laws in favour of the ALP & Coalition. Source: The Klaxon
In June last year — after 11 months and in a “decision” comprised of just two pages — the NACC would not investigate six officials referred to it by the Robodebt Royal Commission.
The Commissioners provided a handful of vague reasons for not investigating, all of which were heavily criticised by top experts.
Amid public outrage, NACC Inspector Gail Furness SC launched an investigation and found Brereton engaged in “officer misconduct” for failing to recuse himself from that decision.
Brereton has personal ties to Kathryn Campbell, the top public servant responsible for Robodebt.
More from The Klaxon:
2025:
18 Feb – NACC forced to investigate over Robodebt
12 Jan – NACC finds “no corruption”, spends $140m to date
2024:
13 Nov – Integrity boss Brereton caught lying about own misconduct
7 Nov – Robodebt NACC hearings must be public: Top judge
26 Sep – NACC Inspector will “investigate” over Robodebt
24 Sep –Robodebt “conflicts” extend beyond Brereton – NACC hides the documents
21 Sep – GUESS WHO? The $600,000 question at the heart of Robodebt
Under the former Coalition Government’s illegal $1.7 billion Robodebt scheme, over 500,000 social security recipients were pursued for fake debts, with some taking their lives.
Nettle was appointed by the NACC in December to determine whether it was wrong for the NACC to have refused to investigate the referred “Robodebt Six”, who have not been named.
Public officials called before the Robodebt Royal Commission included former Social Services Minister, Treasurer and Prime Minister Scott Morrison; former Social Services Minister and Attorney-General Christian Porter; and former human services ministers Stuart Robert, Alan Tudge, Michael Keenan and Marise Payne.
Among those called to give evidence to the Robodebt Royal Commission, clockwise from top left: Scott Morrison, Christian Porter, Stuart Roberts, Michael Keenan, Alan Tudge, Marise Payne. Source: Various/ABC News. (Image top: NACC boss Paul Brereton, Source: ABC News/Ian Cutmore)
The Federal Government and NACC have been accused of running a years-long, multi-pronged cover-up protecting those responsible for Robodebt from being held to account.
In a vague five-sentence statement last week, announcing it would now investigate the Royal Commission’s referrals, the NACC suggested its top officials would be quarantined from the investigations.
“The Commission is now making arrangements to ensure the impartial and fair investigation of the referrals, as it did with the appointment of Mr Nettle as independent reconsideration delegate,” the statement says.
“The Commissioner and those Deputy Commissioners who were involved in the original decision not to investigate the referrals, will not participate in the investigation”.
Yet Farrell has now suggested the investigations will be done in-house.
“I think we should let these people do their job,” Farrell has told Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee.
“We’ve appointed them to their positions and now we should await their consideration”.
Brereton was found to have engaged in officer misconduct because, although temporarily leaving the room when the “decision” was made not to investigate over Robodebt, he remained intimately involved in the process.
In June last year the NACC said the “decision” had been made by a Deputy Commissioner it refused to name.
While one Deputy Commissioner — later revealed to be Nicole Rose — made the final “decision”, all three Deputy Commissioners, along with Brereton, were intimately involved in that decision.
Senator David Pocock at Senate Estimates. Source: Australian Senate
As Senate Estimates this week, Independent Senator David Pocock questioned Farrell as to the “extraordinary situation.
“I obviously accept that the Commissioner and the Deputy Commissioners who directly made that decision (not to investigate) will not conduct the investigation,” Pocock said.
“But I think the public will be concerned that a who sits under a commissioner, and alongside other deputy commissioners, who decided not to investigate, may not be impartial.
“Is that a concern shared by your government”.
Farrell responded:
“No Senator Pocock. I think we have to work on the basis that the people we have appointed to these positions will do the job that is required to make the right choices and right decisions about what should happen in respect of the issue of Robodebt.
“I don’t believe we have any concerns about the appropriateness of these individuals hearing this case and providing a fair outcome for the Australian people.”
The issue that all Deputy Commissioners were involved in the original decision not to investigate Robodebt was not raised.
“Is that a concern shared by your government?” — Senator David Pocock
The leadership structure of the National Anti-Corruption Commission. Source: NACC; Composition: The Klaxon
Responding to Pocock, Farrell said “we should now leave it” and “trust that having got to this point we should leave it to the people” that “have been appointed to these jobs”.
“We should now leave it and trust that having got to this point, we should leave it to the people…. that have been appointed to these jobs,” he said.
“We appointed people to these positions, we have to entrust them with making the right decisions to ensure the integrity of the Australian political system works as it should,” he said.
More from The Klaxon:
2024:
13 Sep – Not one person “punished” over Robodebt
9 Sep – Brereton’s Robodebt “recusal” claims a sham: Top ex-judge
6 Sep – Questions over NACC Robodebt “investigation”
31 Aug – NACC boss misled Dreyfus over Robodebt
29 Aug – Million dollar NACC boss freezes media as questions heat up
26 Aug – “Recused” NACC boss Brereton at Robodebt meeting
Farrell orchestrated the stitch-up of the nation’s political “donations” laws, that rigging electoral funding heavily in favour the ALP and Coalition.
Despite fierce objections to the changes from experts, independents and minor parties, the ALP and Coalition rushed the changes into law and blocked attempts to have them reviewed by a parliamentary committee, which is standard practice.
Regarding NACC’s top brass overseeing the Robodebt investigations, Farrell said the community should “not have anything to worry about”.
“I’m very confident that the community should not have anything to worry about in the way that this investigation will now be investigated and completed and a report be handed down,” he said.
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