PM’s top immigration official Emma Cassar exits weeks from election

Anthony Albanese’s top immigration official Emma Cassar, who ran Daniel Andrews’ quarantine system, has quietly departed the Home Affairs department weeks out from the election.

Geoff ChambersCHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT

Outgoing Department of Home Affairs immigration chief Emma Cassar in 2021, when she was Daniel Andrews’ Quarantine Victoria Commissioner during the pandemic. Picture: Ian Currie

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14 hours ago

Anthony Albanese’s top immigration official Emma Cassar – who oversaw the government’s citizenship division and previously ran Daniel Andrews’ quarantine system in Victoria – has quietly exited the Department of Home Affairs just weeks out from the federal election.

The Australian can reveal that days after Dr Cassar and senior Home Affairs officials were grilled in a Senate estimates hearing last week, department staff on Friday were alerted about her departure after only 11 months in the job.

Dr Cassar, who ran the migration system from her home base of Melbourne and travelled between Canberra and Victoria, was appointed on March 25 last year as associate secretary immigration, making her the second most senior Home Affairs bureaucrat under department secretary Stephanie Foster.

The secondment of the senior Victorian public servant, who served as Mr Andrews’ pandemic-era quarantine commissioner and deputy state controller for the state’s Covid-19 accommodation program, surprised Australian Public Service insiders given her state-based background and experience with the immigration system.

A Department of Home Affairs spokeswoman on Wednesday confirmed Dr Cassar “will conclude her secondment … on March 7 and is returning to the Victorian government”.

“Dr Cassar has made this decision for family reasons. The department recognises Dr Cassar’s significant contribution to the organisation over the past 12 months as associate secretary immigration, and as a key part of the broader Home Affairs leadership team,” the spokeswoman said.

Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs, Stephanie Foster on February 24. Picture: Martin Ollman

A Home Affairs department organisational chart published last Monday showed Dr Cassar as immigration head, overseeing citizenship and multicultural affairs, refugee, humanitarian and settlement, temporary visas and immigration operations.

The department spokeswoman said “while ongoing arrangements for the role are settled”, the three immigration group managers under Dr Cassar would report directly to Ms Foster.

Dr Cassar’s role, previously held by Ms Foster, was created by the Albanese government to shift power away from former secretary Mike Pezzullo, who was eventually removed as department chief.

The Albanese government, which has been beset by immigration scandals including the NZYQ debacle that predated Dr Cassar’s arrival, came under fire last month after Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke ordered his department to hold 25 citizenship ceremonies across the country.

Australian Electoral Commission staff were on hand to enrol up to 12,852 new citizens and encourage them to vote in the upcoming election.

Ahmed Bosan, Aroob Fatima and Ali Bosan, 8, with Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke at a WA citizenship ceremony at Perth Convention Centre on February 27. Picture: Colin Murty

Amid ongoing speculation that a re-elected Albanese government could reinstate immigration as a stand-alone department and abolish the Coalition-era Home Affairs portfolio, which has already had key national security agencies stripped out, Dr Cassar’s departure leaves a hole at the top of the large and complex migration system.

When The Australian revealed her appointment in November, the department would not confirm whether a $590,000 remuneration package authorised by the Australian Public Service Commissioner on March 8 last year for a senior Home Affairs official was linked to Dr Cassar’s role.

The 2023-24 Department of Home Affairs annual report listed Dr Cassar’s remuneration package as $193,581, encompassing her term as a key manager between March 25 and June 30 last year.

Immediately prior to her secondment, Dr Cassar was working as deputy secretary in the Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet leading social policy and intergovernmental relations.

The former Corrections Victoria commissioner received a Public Service Medal in Australia Day honours last year for “outstanding public service and leadership in Victoria’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic”.

Senator James Paterson says Mr Burke should “come clean” about what’s happening in his department. Picture: Martin Ollman

Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson on Wednesday said Mr Burke should “come clean” about what is going on in his department.

“It is extraordinary that the second most senior person in the department – responsible for immigration and citizenship – walks days after a shambolic estimates hearing, weeks before an election and after just one year in the job,” Senator Paterson said.