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 servants involved in the former Coalition government’s unlawful debt recovery scheme have been found to have engaged in serious corrupt conduct.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission’s investigation into six key people linked to robo-debt was published on Wednesday, more than two and a half years after a royal commission first recommended a corruption probe into their behaviour with a secret sealed section of its final report.

The robo-debt referrals have been the NACC’s most high-profile and politically sensitive investigation since its creation, particularly because it initially refused to investigate them. The long-awaited report will not lead to any prosecutions, however, after the NACC’s deputy commissioner Kylie Kilgour said there was not enough admissible evidence for charges.

Labor called the royal commission into robo-debt, which issued automated debts to more than 500,000 social security recipients based on unlawful calculations, when it came into government.

Royal commissioner Catherine Holmes found it was a “crude and cruel mechanism, neither fair nor legal” in her 2023 report. She was highly critical of senior public servants and government ministers, including Morrison, whom she found as social services minister had allowed cabinet to be misled over the scheme’s legality and gave untrue evidence to the commission.

Morrison, who took the initial proposal to cabinet as social services minister in 2015, at the time issued a lengthy defence of his actions. On Wednesday, he welcomed the NACC’s finding that he did not engage in corrupt conduct.

“Furthermore, the findings of the NACC clear me of the allegation that I misled cabinet,” Morrison said in a statement. “The report also reveals that the robo-debt scheme was not conceived or originated by myself, but by department officials and that, as minister, I had no involvement in the administration of the robo-debt scheme, as it commenced after I had left the portfolio.”

Holmes had referred six people to the anti-corruption commission, but their names were kept secret to avoid prejudicing potential civil or criminal proceedings.

Now that the investigation has concluded, the identities of the six, including Morrison’s, have been revealed, and the secret chapter will be tabled in parliament this week.

Kilgour, who led the commission’s investigative team, said the six people and 33 other witnesses had given evidence throughout 35 days of private hearings last year.

She concluded two of the referred people had engaged in serious corrupt conduct: former department officials Mark Withnell and Serena Wilson.

Kilgour found that Withnell, then the department’s general manager of business integrity, had engaged in corrupt conduct because he intentionally misled officers at the Department of Social Services in 2015 as they prepared a cabinet submission with a proposal that became the robo-debt scheme.

She also found Wilson, a former department deputy secretary, had engaged in corrupt conduct when she misled the ombudsman’s investigation into robo-debt in 2017.

There was not enough admissible evidence to establish the alleged offences beyond reasonable doubt, however, so Kilgour said neither person should be referred for criminal prosecution.

Kilgour cleared the remaining four referred people: Morrison, former department secretary Kathryn Campbell, and public servants Catherine Halbert and Annette Musolino. Kilgour said they had not engaged in corruption under definitions set out in law.

Corruption watchdog itself marred by robo-debt investigation

Wednesday’s report will draw a line under the robo-debt investigations, which also subsumed the corruption watchdog.

At first, the NACC decided not to take any action or investigate the referrals. This provoked hundreds of complaints, and NACC inspector Gail Furness, who has independent oversight over the commission, investigated why the watchdog had come to that position.

Her investigation revealed the NACC commissioner, Paul Brereton, had failed to declare a conflict of interest in his relationship to one of the referred people. Because of that, Furness said the NACC should hire an independent person to review its refusal to investigate.

Former High Court judge Geoffrey Nettle was recruited to redo the review of the commission’s original decision, at a cost of $1.14 million. He decided that it was in the public interest for the NACC to launch a corruption investigation. Kilgour, the deputy commissioner, commenced the probe in April last year, and Brereton was not involved in any part of the investigation.

Brereton has since come under investigation a second time. Last month, Furness revealed she was commencing a fresh inquiry into whether his ongoing provision of defence advice while in the role has amounted to agency maladministration or officer misconduct.

Labor has stood by Brereton despite the investigations compromising public confidence in the integrity watchdog that was established as a legacy reform of the Albanese government.

Attorney-General Michelle Rowland on Wednesday described robo-debt as “a betrayal of everyday Australians, resulting in human tragedy and untold misery”. “The Royal Commission was clear in its findings, and we must work to ensure this can never occur again,” she said.

The Royal Commission’s 56 recommendations have either been accepted or implemented by the government, which the NACC report on Wednesday said “should be sufficient to prevent recurrence of the type of corrupt conduct found in this investigation”.

“Therefore, while the commission has made observations in relation to contributing factors, it has not made recommendations in this report,” the investigation said.

Independent MP Helen Haines said the NACC’s findings would bring further accountability for families, but should not have taken so long. “The fact a second investigation was required highlights the importance of scrutiny and transparency in the work of the NACC,” she said.

“Without the sustained public pressure that led to a review of the earlier decision, those impacted by robo-debt 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. “There may be some small satisfaction found in the fact that two staff were found to have acted corruptly, but the architects of robo-debt are still sitting pretty,” she said.

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