Why all the government secrecy on Kathryn Campbell’s demise?

The federal government’s obfuscation surrounding the first high-profile scalp of the robo-debt royal commission, the public servant Kathryn Campbell, creates a problem for the public as the inquiry enters its next phase: if they are kept in the dark about Campbell’s demise, what will they be entitled to know about the fate of those named in the inquiry’s sealed section, whose identities remain a mystery?

The silence around Campbell has had the unintended effect of focusing attention on the Albanese government. Given the report’s damning findings in its unsealed section, Labor surely must have known she would be thrown overboard when the royal commission handed down its report, yet the government cast around for a new job for Campbell almost as soon as it won office.

Campbell had been secretary of the Department of Social Services and Human Services at the height of the robo-debt crisis, before the Morrison government shifted her to secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Less than a month after Labor won the 2022 election, the secretary of Albanese’s Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Glyn Davis, emailed the secretary of the Department for Defence, Greg Moriarty, noting her role as foreign affairs boss was “likely” to end, with the result that a new AUKUS role – including retention of her $900,000 salary – was created for Campbell.

When the open section of the royal commission report was released earlier this month, accusing Campbell of serious wrongdoing, confusion reigned as to her current position in the public service. She was reported to have taken leave, while other unsourced stories – most probably leaks from Defence – said she had been involuntarily stood down without pay. Albanese later reluctantly confirmed her indefinite suspension. On Monday, the Department of Defence officially lowered the boom, announcing she had quit: “Defence can confirm it has accepted Ms Kathryn Campbell’s resignation from the department with effect from Friday, July 21, 2023,” Defence said. “Defence will not provide further comment on this matter.”

Why all the circumspection? Many had expected Campbell and several other key public service figures who backed robo-debt to be removed from their positions swiftly after the royal commission report landed. The upshot is that all the hesitancy means Australians have no real knowledge as to Campbell’s fate: did she quit or was she shoved? Nobody is saying anything and people seem to be going to great pains not to talk.

A highly connected and decorated public servant and major-general in the Defence Reserve, Campbell has been a denizen of the world of Canberra’s top echelon most of her working life. With her resignation, Albanese has been deprived of the kudos of her dismissal following the royal commission’s findings that went to her decisions to keep the illegal debt creation scheme alive and shielded from scrutiny despite mounting evidence it was both illegal and dysfunctional.

Australia has spent millions on exposing robo-debt as the meeting of big data and big government at its most heartless and impersonal and the royal commission found Campbell was its personification and therefore a disgrace.

Albanese may be touched by a sense of embarrassment too for having given her nearly $1 million to hang around until judgment day but all the fudging surrounding her fate goes to the issue of transparency, which raises deep concerns for the Herald about how much the public will be told about other public servants and former ministers whose conduct on robo-debt should disqualify them from taxpayer-funded positions.

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