The Albanese government will introduce legislation to provide an express power for the Public Service Commissioner to investigate former agency heads, after some ex-mandarins claimed leaving the public service meant they could not be investigated over Robodebt.
The Commissioner is one of the last remaining avenues for some accountability for the illegal scheme, after the corruption watchdog dropped its investigation of six officials and the Federal Police decided not to pursue an alleged false testimony to the royal commission.
Public Service Minister Katy Gallagher announced the planned amendments to the Public Service Act 1999 on Tuesday and revealed that undisclosed former agency heads have argued their alleged code of conduct breaches could not be investigated without express provisions.
The Canberra Times reported that APS Commissioner Gordon de Brouwer had been close to wrapping up his investigations of 16 individuals over potential code of conduct breaches in administering the Robodebt scheme. But he “was forced to pause after some former agency heads argued they could not be investigated”.
Minister Gallagher said the express provisions will ensure former agency heads will be held to account in the same manner as current and former APS employees and will give the APS Commissioner unambiguous power to make determinations and finalise the matters in their remit.
“This legislation will ensure that senior public servants are clearly accountable for their actions as public service leaders, even after leaving their roles.”
“The Robodebt Scheme was a shameful chapter of public administration. It pursued debt recovery against Australians who in many cases had no debt to pay. Where appropriate, those involved from the public service must be held to account. We want to make sure a scheme like this can never happen again.”
The final report of the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme was tabled last July. It was unequivocal that the unlawful scheme was rushed into operation with “little interest” in its legal basis and then covered up with “dishonesty and collusion”,
Several unnamed individuals were referred for civil action and criminal prosecution, in a secretive additional “sealed” chapter that has not been released to avoid prejudicing investigations.
The Albanese government has repeatedly said it accepted “all 56 recommendations” of the royal commission but has ignored the final report’s 57th recommendation, claiming it was a comment.
The unaddressed recommendation is to repeal part of Freedom of Information laws that currently limit access to Cabinet documents, after efforts to establish facts about Robodebt had been thwarted by public interest immunity claims.
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