Two former federal departmental heads breached public service code 25 times in Robodebt scandal

Two former federal departmental secretaries and another ten bureaucrats involved in the Robodebt scandal have been found to have breached the Public Service Code of Conduct a total of 97 times.

Kathryn Campbell and Renée Leon breached the code when they when they served as secretary of the then department of human services. Campbell committed 12 breaches, and Leon 13.

Both are no longer in the public service and so face no penalty. Leon is vice-chancellor of Charles Sturt University.

A royal commission into Robodebt was damning of ministers and public servants involved in the scheme, which used income averaging in its pursuit of alleged welfare debts that in many cases did not exist.

The commission found: “Robodebt was a crude and cruel mechanism, neither fair nor legal, and it made many people feel like criminals. In essence, people were traumatised on the off-chance they might owe money. It was a costly failure of public administration, in both human and economic terms.”

Public Service Commissioner Gordon de Brouwer on Friday released the results of the investigation by a taskforce with independent reviewers that the commission established to examine the actions of a batch of public servants.

In a statement outlining the findings, de Brouwer said Campbell’s breaches related to “failure to act with due care and diligence” and not upholding the Australian Public Service’s values.

Among a list of failures, in 2017 she did not ensure internal and external legal advice was sought about the scheme, did not sufficiently respond to public criticism and some whistleblower complaints, and did not ensure her minister was fully informed of academic and legal criticism of the scheme.

Also, Campbell “created and allowed a culture that prevented issues about the Scheme from being properly considered” within the department.

She “caused the resumption of income averaging under the Scheme in August 2017 when she knew, or ought to have known, that debts raised pursuant to that process were potentially inaccurate”.

Leon breached the requirements “to act honestly and with integrity”, “with care and diligence”, “to not provide false or misleading information”, and to uphold public service values.

She misrepresented to the Ombudsman in 2019 that the department’s legal position on the use of income averaging was “not uncertain”. She also failed to ensure the solicitor-general was expeditiously briefed and advice sought about the scheme’s lawfulness.

She also failed to expeditiously inform her minister and fellow departmental secretaries of the solicitor-general’s advice on the lawfulness of the scheme and cease the practice of income averaging.

The total 72 breaches by ten other current and former public servants include lack of care and diligence, lack of integrity, misleading others and failing to uphold the service’s values.

Sanctions were recommended for the four people still in the public service. They include reprimands, fines and demotions. These have been or are being applied. Another person retired before the sanction could be implemented.

Noting that between them the two departmental secretaries breached the code of conduct 25 times, de Brouwer said: “The public needs to know that the most senior of public servants, those who have enormous power and influence in the public service, are accountable for their actions, especially in the case of demonstrated, numerous and serious failures in public administration”.

He said Robodebt had seen some public servants “lose their grounding”. They had felt under pressure from ministers and senior officials and become “caught up in busyness and self-absorption”.

“The consequences were felt by hundreds of thousands of people, sometimes tragically. This failure at some senior levels contrasts with the instances where front-line staff and more junior offers properly raised their concerns but were not listened to.”

In a statement Leon insisted she had behaved with integrity.

She said she stood by “the actions I took to get definitive legal advice and bring the robodebt program to an end.

"Robodebt had already been in operation for two years when I became secretary of human services. When legal doubts were raised, I sought definitive advice from the Solicitor-General.

"I acted as expeditiously as possible to convince a government that was wedded to the robodebt scheme that it had to be ceased. When ministers delayed, I directed it be stopped. Two weeks later, my role as secretary was terminated by a government that did not welcome frank and fearless advice,” she said.