Kathryn Campbell was suspended from her high-ranking position as an advisor on AUKUS – the trilateral safety and defence pact between Australia, the UK and US - after findings from the robodebt inquiry.
Last yr, Campbell was appointed as an advisor on the nuclear submarine deal on a wage of $900,000 yearly.
Campbell was head of the Department of Human Services when the controversial debt restoration program started, and was criticised by the royal fee’s report.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed Campbell has been stood down from her present place.
“I’m not going to comment on individual cases in detail about the future because there are processes in place, but I certainly have been advised that that is the case,” Albanese advised ABC radio.
“Most people who have a look at the human tragedy that was caused by robodebt and the findings of the royal commission are very, very clear about failings by the Morrison government, and indeed before going back to when Scott Morrison was the minister, but also some failings with the bureaucracy as well, and it’s appropriate that there be a response to that.”
The royal fee report discovered the robodebt scheme to be a “crude and cruel mechanism, neither fair nor legal” perpetuated via “venality, incompetence and cowardice”.
It referred people for civil and prison prosecution via a confidential, sealed chapter.
The robodebt scheme ran for four-and-a-half years, from July 2015 to November 2019, throughout which era $1.73 billion in illegal money owed had been raised towards greater than 400,000 individuals.
A category motion lawsuit over the scheme was settled for $1.2 billion in 2020.
An additional $721 million in wrongly issued money owed was repaid.
Robodebt victims advised of being pushed to the brink of suicide after being chased by debt collectors, whereas the inquiry heard from the family members of people that took their very own lives after being issued with debt notices.
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Source: www.9news.com.au
