Mike Pezzullo sacked from department over leaked texts

Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo has been sacked for using his position to gain a benefit for himself, failing to be apolitical, and engaging in ‘disrespectful’ critiques of ministers and senior public servants.

Mike Pezzullo has been sacked as Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage.

Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo has been sacked for multiple breaches of the public service code, including using his position to gain a benefit for himself, failing to be apolitical, and engaging in “disrespectful” critiques of ministers and senior public servants.

Anthony Albanese announced Mr Pezzullo’s termination on Monday following an independent review of thousands of leaked text messages between the veteran bureaucrat and Liberal powerbroker Scott Briggs.

Former public service commissioner Lynelle Briggs examined five years of messages, in which Mr Pezzullo sought to undermine political and public service enemies, influence ministerial appointments, muzzle the press and further his own career.

Australian Public Service Commissioner Gordon de Brouwer said Ms Briggs’ review found the senior public servant had breached the public service code of conduct on at least 14 occasions.

He said the breaches related to five “overarching allegations”: that Mr Pezzullo used his position to gain a benefit or advantage for himself; engaged in gossip and disrespectful critique of ministers and public servants; failed to maintain confidentiality of sensitive government information; failed to act apolitically; and failed to disclose a conflict of interest.

Mr Pezzullo’s $931,000-a-year contract had nearly a year to run. But he won’t be paid out after regulatory changes last week slashed compensation for departmental secretaries found to have breached the public service code.

The Community and Public Sector Union said Mr Pezzullo’s conduct was incompatible with the impartiality and transparency expected from public servants, making his position untenable.

“Far too often we have seen everyday public servants being held to a higher standard than their bosses,” CPSU national secretary Melissa Donnelly said.

Acting Home Affairs secretary Stephanie Foster will continue to act in the role, Mr Albanese confirmed.

Mr Pezzullo’s sacking had been widely anticipated in Canberra following the text message revelations, first reported by Nine newspapers in September.

Amid rumours of a political hit job, Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil told parliament on Monday that she referred the allegations to the Australian Public Service Commissioner as soon as she became aware of them.

“We regard these matters as very serious and they required a serious investigation to get to the bottom of what happened,” she said.

Mr Pezzullo was one of Canberra’s most powerful and enigmatic public servants, rising from graduate trainee in the Department of Defence to leading the Home Affairs mega-department, which he lobbied the former Coalition government to create.

He was, ironically, a stickler for the rules, protecting the government’s secrets from journalists and opposition inquisitors in Senate estimates hearings.

The inaugural Home Affairs secretary previously worked as deputy chief-of-staff to former Labor leader Kim Beazley and was a senior adviser to former Labor foreign minister Gareth Evans.

But he was most closely associated with the Coalition’s national security agenda. The former Australian Customs and Border Protection Service chief and 2009 Defence white paper author forged a close relationship with Mr Morrison during the formation of Operation Sovereign Borders.

In one text to Mr Briggs, Mr Pezzullo said he would “like to see Dutton come back” to the home affairs portfolio if Mr Morrison replaced Malcolm Turnbull in August 2018.

“You need a right winger in there – people smugglers will be watching,” he is alleged to have told Mr Briggs. “Please feed that in.”

He also made negative comments to Mr Briggs about former foreign minister Julie Bishop and former defence minister Marise Payne, and suggested he should replace the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet head Martin Parkinson, who he described as “befuddled”, lacking “vitality” and “missing in action”.

Mr Briggs was the chairman of Mr Morrison’s Cook federal electoral council and a factional backer who helped engineer the numbers to deliver his close friend the leadership by five votes in the second leadership spill in August 2018.