‘Furious tirade’: Bill Shorten blasts ex-public service chief Kathryn Campbell over Robodebt saga

Bill Shorten has denounced former high-ranking public servant Kathryn Campbell, lashing her for launching “a furious tirade blaming everyone else” after she accused him of politicising the Robodebt saga.

Government Services Minister Bill Shorten speaking to reporters in Melbourne at the weekend. Picture: NewsWire / Luis Enrique Ascui

Government Services Minister Bill Shorten has denounced former high-ranking public servant Kathryn Campbell, lashing her for launching “a furious tirade blaming everyone else” after she said the Labor frontbencher had elevated her role in the Robodebt saga.

In an interview with The Weekend Australian, Ms Campbell – who served as the head of the Department of Human Services from 2011 to 2017 during which time the unlawful debt recovery program was established – said she had been “set up as the scapegoat” over the ensuing scandal.

“There had been ministerial comments from Minister Shorten about me and no one else, just me. He drew parallels about problems with [former prime minister Scott] Morrison and I. He did try and connect me to Mr Morrison, so I thought there was a bit of an angle there,” she said.

Ms Campbell’s comments come after the Australian Public Service Commission on Friday found that a dozen former and current public servants, including Ms Campbell, breached the APS code of conduct 97 times via their involvement in the scheme.

While noting the “hurt and harm” resulting from the scheme, Ms Campbell rejected all findings made against her by the royal commission and subsequent APSC probe.

At the weekend, Mr Shorten refuted Ms Campbell’s comments, saying the “real scapegoats” of the Coalition-era scheme were the 430,000 welfare recipients it targeted with debt notices based on incorrectly assessed incomes.

“Ms Campbell says the attacks on her have been political. The reality is the attacks on 430,000 people using welfare were political. The politics wasn’t against the ­Coalition government, it was by the Coalition government,” he said. “Robodebt was a shocking betrayal and failure of empathy towards vulnerable people who needed support from the government, and … we’ve seen one of the key central actors in the tragedy of Robodebt, yet again … fail to show empathy to the victims.”

In opposition, Mr Shorten pursued the former Morrison government over the matter while mobilising a class action among victims that was settled by the commonwealth for $1.8bn.

He also took aim at Ms Campbell’s assertion the public service could become “risk-averse”. “There is no innovation in the public service which should ever warrant or be justified by breaking the law,” he said.