Border boss Roman Quaedvlieg farce now in Christian Porter’s hands

Attorney-General Christian Porter will now decide whether Roman Quaedvlieg loses his job.

Australian Border Force Commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg. Picture: AAP

The fate of one of Australia’s highest-paid public servants hangs in the balance nine months after he took leave, with the government admitting yesterday a highly sensitive probe had still not been finalised despite two separate reports being completed.

Home Affairs Department secretary Mike Pezzullo revealed that attempts to end the saga surrounding Border Force head Roman Quaedvlieg, who earns $619,905 a year, had ­shuffled through several sets of hands due to potential conflicts of interest. Attorney-General Christian Porter now has final responsibility for deciding whether Mr Quaedvlieg keeps his job.

The Border Force head agreed to take leave last May while allegations that he tried to intervene on behalf of his partner, who had applied for a job as a passport officer at Sydney Airport, were investigated. His paid leave has so far cost taxpayers about $500,000.

Mr Pezzullo told a Senate estimates hearing yesterday that the federal corruption watchdog, the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity, had completed its report in the third quarter of last year.

Mr Pezzullo, according to evidence in a separate hearing yesterday, asked Prime Minister and Cabinet secretary Martin Parkinson to write a separate report last August into whether Mr Quaedvlieg should lose his job. This report was completed in ­December.

PM&C deputy secretary of governance Stephanie Foster said this report would usually have been done by Mr Pezzullo but the now head of Home Affairs had worked with Mr Quaedvlieg over the years so it needed to be done by an independent voice.

“Decisions whether or not to terminate a senior officer like this are clearly very significant ones,” Ms Foster said. “Dr Parkinson … conducted his review as ­expeditiously as he could.

“And he provided Mr Quaedvlieg a copy of the report on December 22. On January 17, Mr Quaedvlieg provided a response to Dr Parkinson’s report and that was provided to the relevant minister.” Ms Foster said the report was with Mr Porter to make a ­decision.

Mr Porter said he would decide Mr Quaedvlieg’s fate to avoid perceptions of bias “given Mr Quaedvlieg’s reporting obligations to (Home Affairs) Minister (Peter) Dutton under the Australian Border Force Act”.

 

Mr Porter said that, after he was asked to make the call, he ­requested further legal advice to check he was the one who should decide the matter.

“As a result of this request, and before receiving Dr Parkinson’s report, I sought legal advice from the Australian Government Solicitor to satisfy myself that I can consider and determine this matter,” he said. “The AGS confirmed I am able to undertake this task.”

The slow-moving investigation was attacked by Labor ­senators Kim Carr and Penny Wong. “Why is he still on forced leave?” Senator Carr said.

Speaking to The Australian last night, Mr Quaedvlieg repeated his frustration at the process. “I have followed the evidence given during the Senate estimates hearings of the legal and constitutional, and the finance and public administration committees today regarding the progress of investigations into allegations made against me,” Mr Quaedvlieg said.

“I note that the evidence given collectively by various departmental officials is broadly consistent with my understanding of the current status of this matter.”

The Border Force chief said he had nothing to say “at this stage” about the propriety of the investigation “other than to point to my public comments last week regarding the extraordinary time it has taken for this matter to be resolved and to restate my commitment to return to the role at a time which is critical to the security of Australia’s borders and to the establishment of Australia’s national security architecture.”

The drama has taken place against a major reorganisation of the country’s national security agencies, including Border Force moving into the new Home ­Affairs Department at the start of this year.

Mr Pezzullo said the cost of creating the Home Affairs ­Department would be between $5 million and $10m, and $2m had already been spent on the changes.

Mr Dutton distanced himself from the long-running investigation after a speech at the ­National Press Club last week. “This is not an investigation which is run by me or by my ­office or by the secretary of the department,” he said.

Mr Dutton said sometimes “these matters are protracted” in order to make sure all evidence is considered and that all involved are afforded natural justice.

Mr Pezzullo slammed criticism of his newly created department as “flights of conspiratorial fantasy”.

He said critics seemed to be suggesting that the department and its leaders were secretively constructing an extrajudicial ­apparatus of power without proper parliamentary oversight.

He said there was no “sinister” concentration of power going on and the criticism was “wrong”.

The Home Affairs Department has about 14,000 staff.

The Home Affairs portfolio has about 23,000 staff, according to Mr Pezzullo.

The Home ­Affairs portfolio has an overall budget of $7 billion, or $23bn over the forward estimates, not including ASIO’s budget.