The recommendations of the robodebt royal commission, by commissioner Catherine Holmes AC SC provide a substantial program of reform within the Australian Public Service (APS). But even if fully implemented, they would do nothing to stop a repeat of what unfolded between late 2014 and 2019.
Robodebt was the result of bureaucrats eager to be “responsive” to a new minister, one who saw getting legislation to make an illegal scheme legal as just too damn hard. They worked with him to mislead cabinet and other agencies. According to the Holmes report, Scott Morrison, former head of the human and social services departments Kathryn Campbell, her deputy secretary the late Malisa Golightly, and Human Services SES officer Mark Withnell were all party to this deception.
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