Inside our human rights body: rogue campaigns and left-leaning advisers

THE head of the AHRC has publicly rebuked one of her most experienced commissioners for launching a social media attack on retailer Myer.

Bernie Brookes

THE head of the Australian Human Rights Commission has publicly rebuked one of her most experienced commissioners for launching an unauthorised, wrong and damaging social media attack on retailer Myer.

AHRC president Gillian Triggs has also been forced to fend off claims that the agency, facing potential changes under a Coalition government, is politically biased after documents revealed a senior adviser at the commission wished Kevin Rudd would "knock those mugs out" in a reference to the Liberal Party's George Brandis.

A Freedom of Information request by The Australian has produced hundreds of documents, including sensitive emails showing Professor Triggs disagreed with the actions of commissioner Graeme Innes but was powerless to manage the fallout because her senior colleagues rejected her efforts to broker a truce with the heads of Myer.

The row began after Myer chief executive Bernie Brookes told a Macquarie Securities conference in May that a levy to fund the national disability insurance scheme was "not good for our customers" because the $300 they would be compelled to pay was $300 they might not spend at Myer. The comment prompted Mr Innes, the AHRC's disability discrimination commissioner, to start an online petition that led to widespread criticism of Myer and a call by Mr Innes for the retailer to ensure that within two years, 10 per cent of its workforce comprised disabled employees.

GRAPHIC: Inside our human rights body

After unsuccessful confidential attempts to mediate the matter, Myer chairman Paul McClintock countered with a scathing assessment of the commission's conduct in destabilising a major employer and business and unfairly targeting Mr Brookes for being honest with financial analysts about the impact of a levy.

One of the internal emails obtained by The Australian discloses how a senior adviser to the commission's head, Brinsley Marlay, responded in July to the public involvement of the opposition legal affairs spokesman, George Brandis, in the row by writing: "We can only hope Kevin07 can knock those mugs out."

The email, to colleague Adrian Flood, came amid polling showing that the Prime Minister, in the days after his ousting of Julia Gillard, could make the election battle close. The email added that the comeback by Mr Rudd "might make it easier for her (Professor Triggs)/us in the end, even if the election is close".

Mr Marlay, listed as a media adviser to Professor Triggs, said yesterday that it was a flippant remark to a colleague and it did not represent the widespread or overall position of the commission.

Professor Triggs said she regretted the email, which she described as a "very unfortunate" comment by one staff member out of a workforce of 130, and she defended the commission as being above politics. She also defended Mr Innes while acknowledging he had done the wrong thing. Professor Triggs said that to stop a similar occurrence the commission "needs a more effective governance structure", which she has also raised with the Attorney-General's Department.

"I was very concerned that as a governance matter this was out of line and my primary concern was the reputation of the commission because we do not behave in that way," she said. "The commission is not politicised. Human rights are not about Left or Right politics. The allegation that we take a particular political position is very unfair.

"The commission and the staff have been extremely concerned at the damage done by this matter. It's a matter of very profound concern to me and it has happened at a most unfortunate time. But the cause of this was something that Myer brought on themselves."

The Coalition has the AHRC in its sights, with Senator Brandis vowing to reform the organisation. He has attacked the AHRC as "an anti-discrimination commission" with little attachment to classical human rights and flagged changes to the Human Rights Commission Act to guarantee freedom of speech.

The internal documents - revealing the failure of Mr Innes to consult his colleagues before the attack on Myer, and then the inability of the commission to agree on how to climb down from a position that drew numerous complaints and outraged Mr Brookes and Mr McClintock - throw a different light on the issue compared with the one originally reported by the commission.

Professor Triggs said in a public statement in early July: "I can tell you categorically that all commissioners stand behind him as I do as president. That is crystal clear. They can't put a wedge between us if they tried".

But the internal documents show that Professor Triggs was caught unawares by the action of Mr Innes and that she warned him, "We'll need to find an exit strategy from the campaign pending a meeting with Myer when I get back." She asked him to stop tweeting and to cease promoting the campaign.

Emails and text messages written by top staff of the commission show that they were proud of Professor Triggs because, in their view, her public responses and media management in The Australian Financial Review had "muddied the waters" and deflected some of the criticism of the commission back on to Myer.

Professor Triggs said she had not "muddied the waters" but her position was difficult because all seven commissioners had statutory powers and she could not persuade them to issue a conciliatory statement that would have satisfied Myer and prevented the retailer's counter-attack.

A Myer spokesman said yesterday: "We decline to comment further other than to repeat the previous position that the company has sought to resolve the matter privately with the Australian Human Rights Commission. While repeated attempts were made, unfortunately we could not resolve this matter professionally with the commission and this is a matter of regret."

Myer said it stood by the views of Mr McClintock, who called for the commission to be reviewed and possibly restructured. Mr McClintock said he had "asked the Attorney-General to consider whether a commonwealth official should be able to attack an individual and a company without reference to the parties".

In an internal summary of Mr Innes's action, the commissioner said the comments by Mr Brookes "were insensitive to say the least, suggesting that the money would be better in Myer cash registers than paid for the (NDIS)".

Mr Innes described a public apology by Mr Brookes as "pretty half-hearted. Instead of it shutting down the social network criticism, it created more of a storm. I did not regard it as a satisfactory apology and tweeted to that effect. I seized the moment ... in a petition on change.org. By Friday it had 25,000 signatures and earlier today it passed 30,000. There have been 2.9 million tweets about the Myer issue generally. In my view we should not appear defensive ... "

The Australian's requests for comment from Mr Innes were directed by the commission to Professor Triggs.