Secret identities revealed, Morrison cleared of corruption in robo-debt investigation
Former prime minister Scott Morrison has been cleared by the corruption watchdog’s investigation into robo-debt, while two senior public officials involved in the former Coalition government’s illegal debt bailout scheme have been revealed to have been involved in serious corrupt behaviour.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission’s investigation into six key figures linked to robo-debt was published on Wednesday, more than two and a half years after the royal commission recommended a corruption probe into their conduct in a secretly sealed section of its final report.
Robo-debt referrals have been the NACC’s most high-profile and politically sensitive investigation since its inception; especially because he initially refused to investigate them. But the long-awaited report will not lead to any prosecution after NACC deputy commissioner Kylie Kilgour said there was not enough admissible evidence to lay charges.
Labor called the royal commission into robo-debt, which issued direct debits based on illegal calculations to more than 500,000 social security recipients when it came into government.
Royal commissioner Catherine Holmes found it was “a crude and cruel mechanism that is neither fair nor lawful”. 2023 report. He has been highly critical of senior public servants and government ministers, including Morrison, who he found had allowed the cabinet, as social services minister, to be misled about the legality of the scheme and given untrue evidence to the commission.
Morrison, who brought the first proposal to the cabinet as social services minister in 2015, published a statement at that time. long defense of his actions. On Wednesday, he welcomed the NACC’s finding that he had not engaged in corrupt conduct.
“Furthermore, the NACC’s findings clear me of any allegation that I misled the cabinet,” Morrison said in a statement. “The report also reveals that the robodebt scheme was designed or initiated by ministerial officials, not me, and that I, as minister, had no involvement in the management of the robodebt scheme, which began after I left the portfolio.”
Holmes referred six people to the anti-corruption commission, but their names were kept secret to avoid harming possible civil or criminal proceedings.
Now that the investigation is over, the identities of six people, including Morrison’s, have been revealed and the secret part will be presented to parliament this week.
Kilgour, who led the commission’s investigative team, said six people and 33 other witnesses testified in special hearings that lasted 35 days last year.
It concluded that two of the individuals in question were involved in serious corrupt conduct: former department officials Mark Withnell and Serena Wilson.
Kilgour found that Withnell, then the department’s director general of business integrity, had engaged in corrupt conduct when he deliberately misled civil servants at the Department of Social Services in 2015 as he prepared a cabinet presentation with a proposal for what would become the robo-debt scheme.
It also found that Wilson, a former department deputy secretary, engaged in corrupt conduct when he misled the ombudsman’s investigation into robo-debts in 2017.
But because there was not enough admissible evidence to establish the alleged crimes beyond a reasonable doubt, Kilgour said neither man should be criminally prosecuted.
Kilgour cleared the remaining four: Morrison, former department secretary Kathryn Campbell and public servants Catherine Halbert and Annette Musolino. Kilgour said that they were not involved in corruption according to the definitions specified in the law.
Corruption watchdog itself marred by robodebt probe
Wednesday’s report will draw a line on robo-debt investigations involving the corruption watchdog.
At first, NACC decided not to take any action or investigate the referrals. This led to hundreds of complaints, and NACC investigator Gail Furness, who independently oversees the commission, investigated why the watchdog had taken this position.
Its investigation found that NACC commissioner Paul Brereton had failed to declare a conflict of interest in his relationship with one of the named individuals. Therefore, Furness said, the NACC should hire an independent person to review its decision to reject the investigation.
Former Supreme Court judge Geoffrey Nettle was hired at a cost of $1.14 million to review the commission’s initial decision. It ruled that it was in the public interest for the NACC to launch a corruption investigation. Deputy Commissioner Kilgour launched the investigation in April last year and Brereton was not involved in any part of the investigation.
Brereton has since been investigated for a second time. Last month, Furness announced he was launching a new investigation into whether providing ongoing defense advice while in office amounted to agency mismanagement or officer misconduct.
Labor has stood by Brereton despite the investigations damaging public confidence in the integrity watchdog, established as an early reform of the Albanian government.
On Wednesday, Attorney General Michelle Rowland described robodebt as “a betrayal of ordinary Australians, leading to human tragedy and untold misery”. “The Royal Commission was clear in its findings and we must work to ensure this never happens again,” he said.
The Royal Commission’s 56 recommendations were either accepted or implemented by the government; Wednesday’s NACC report said these “should be sufficient to prevent a recurrence of the corrupt conduct found in this investigation.”
“Therefore, while the commission made observations regarding contributing factors, it did not make recommendations in this report,” the investigation said.
Independent MP Helen Haines said the NACC’s findings would bring greater responsibility to families but it should not take this long. “The fact that a second investigation is necessary highlights the importance of scrutiny and transparency in the NACC’s work,” he said.
“Had it not been for sustained public pressure that led to a review of the previous decision, those affected by robodebt may never have received the validation that this finding now provides.”
Greens social services spokeswoman Penny Allman-Payne said Wednesday’s finding would bring little relief. “It may be somewhat satisfying that two staff members were found to be involved in corruption, but the architects of the robodebt are still out in the open,” he said.
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Natassia Chrysanthos is a Federal Political Correspondent. He has previously reported on immigration, health, social issues and the NDIS from Parliament House in Canberra.Connect with: X or email.
