Daniel Andrews’ quarantine chief Emma Cassar running immigration system from Melbourne

A senior Victorian bureaucrat who ran Daniel Andrews’ Covid-19 quarantine program is now overseeing Australia’s immigration system from Melbourne while seconded from the Labor state government.

Former Covid quarantine commissioner Emma Cassar appeared beside then-Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews at numerous pandemic press conferences..

A senior Victorian bureaucrat who ran Daniel Andrews’ controversial Covid-19 quarantine and accommodation programs is now overseeing Australia’s immigration system from Melbourne, after being seconded from the state Labor government.

Emma Cassar, who served as Victoria’s quarantine commissioner and deputy state controller for the state’s Covid-19 accommodation program, has been put in charge of the Department of Home Affairs’ complex immigration division from outside Canberra.

The elevation of Dr Cassar, who holds a doctorate in forensic psychology and is a former Corrections Victoria commissioner, has surprised Australian Public Service insiders given her state-based experience.

Dr Cassar, who commenced as Department of Home Affairs ­associate secretary immigration on March 25, is responsible for “policy, program management and service delivery functions for Australia’s temporary and permanent migration, refugee and humanitarian, immigration compliance, and citizenship ­programs”.

Emma Cassar on Monday. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The Department of Home ­Affairs 2023-24 annual report lists Dr Cassar’s remuneration package as $193,581, encompassing her term as a key manager between March 25 and June 30. The department did not confirm whether a $590,000 remuneration package authorised by the Australian Public Service Commissioner on March 8 for a senior Home Affairs official was linked to Dr Cassar’s role.

Dr Cassar, who was seconded from the Victorian Department of Premier and the Cabinet where she was deputy secretary leading social policy and intergovernmental relations, now sits second to ­department secretary Stephanie Foster as associate secretary immigration on the Home Affairs organisational chart. The role was created for Ms Foster by the Albanese government following the 2022 election, effectively diminishing the power of long-time Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo ahead of his forced departure in November last year.

Dr Cassar, who appeared alongside Ms Foster at a Senate estimates hearing on Monday, travelled with Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke last week for a ­series of high-level meetings with interim government officials in Bangladesh focused on people smuggling and the displacement of Rohingyas.

A Department of Home Affairs spokesman said Dr Cassar’s ­“engagement is via a secondment arrangement with the Victorian state government”.

Home Affairs department secretary Stephanie Foster. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“Recruitment to the Department of Home Affairs is conducted in line with Australian Public Service-wide guidelines, including secondment arrangements,” the spokesman said.

“An intent of the APS Reform agenda is for the APS to build its capacity, genuinely partner across all levels of government and ­industry, and increase talent and capability from outside the federal public sector. The Department has the opportunity to contribute to this objective through Dr Cassar’s secondment.”

Dr Cassar was considered a troubleshooter for the Andrews government during the pandemic, tasked with resetting Victoria’s broken quarantine system. She was the subject of political attacks during the Covid crisis, with then Victorian Liberal leader Michael O’Brien describing her as a “political public servant” shielding the Andrews government.

In January, Dr Cassar was awarded a Public Service Medal in Australia Day honours for “outstanding public service and leadership in Victoria’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic”. The awards biography said: “Emma’s appointment to lead the reset of Victoria’s mandatory Covid-19 quarantine program in 2020 came at a time of immense public, political, and health complexity. Within a mere four months under her guidance, there were no reported cases of Covid-19 transmission from CQV (Covid Quarantine Victoria) facilities to the public.”

Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said on Monday: “Labor must explain why they thought someone of Dr Cassar’s background and qualifications was appropriate for this senior and sensitive role in the ­department, and whether her service in the Andrews government in Victoria was taken into consideration in the appointment process.”

Amid concerns about displacement of Rohingyas and stability in Bangladesh following the August revolution that ousted its government, Mr Burke was joined in Dhaka last week by Dr Cassar, Operation Sovereign Borders commander Brett Sonter and other senior officials to discuss measures aimed at stopping “irregular migration”. Bangladeshi media reports said Mr Burke raised the potential of accepting more Rohingya ­asylum-seekers and outlined plans to re-establish a visa centre in Dhaka and strengthen co-­operation against people-­smugglers.

Bangladeshi authorities reportedly committed to repatriate citizens in immigration detention who had entered Australia without visas. Bangladeshi citizens are understood to have been among asylum-seekers who arrived on people-smuggling ventures over the past 12-months.

Mr Burke, who replaced Clare O’Neil in July following a series of immigration scandals, said: ­“Australia has an ongoing national interest in working with international partners to stop irregular migration”.

Senator Paterson called on the government to be “transparent about the deal secretly done with the government of Bangladesh about taking more refugees and opening a visa office”.