Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week we got the final report from an investigation into robodebt and breaches of the Australian Public Service Code of Conduct. A total of 97 code breaches were reported, ranging from failure to exercise reasonable care and diligence and a failure to behave with honesty and integrity to providing false and misleading information. The Public Service Commissioner named two agency heads, including Kathryn Campbell, saying, 'Leaders matter; leaders set the tone and are accountable.' But, because Kathryn Campbell was an agency head, no sanction can be applied. How disgraceful! Just like in defence, there is no accountability. I don't think being publicly named is accountability. What about the 430,000 Australians who were hounded and, in some cases, ended up taking their own lives? Instead of taking this public slap on the wrist and apologising to those Australians, Kathryn Campbell went crying to the Australian newspaper like a baby, claiming she was being used as a scapegoat. As Minister Bill Shorten pointed out, the definition of 'scapegoat' is someone wrongly blamed for the activity of others. You were in charge, Ms Campbell. You are not a scapegoat; you are a disgrace.

There were many public servants who tried to warn their bosses that robodebt was probably illegal. I heard from public servants who did the right thing. They were punished. This is the problem: senior public servants, like the top brass in the Defence Force, don't suffer any consequences for their actions. The NACC, headed up by a friend of defence, Major General Paul Brereton, decided in June not to investigate the robodebt scheme—once again, 'Nothing to see here.' This was even more shocking because royal commissioner Catherine Holmes delayed delivering her report so that the NACC could investigate. That's what it's like up here, Australia: jobs for mates and protecting your mates seem to be all that matters. Kathryn Campbell gets to keep her pension, and she can apply for another job in the Public Service. She just has to disclose that she breached the code. This is not accountability; this is just getting off scot-free.