The secret inquiry into Mike Pezzullo’s conduct is no longer secret. After an 18-month FOI battle, Rex Patrick can reveal just how serious his misconduct was and his sacking inevitable.
This is the first in a series of articles.
The report’s writer, former Australian Public Service (APS) Commissioner Lynelle Briggs, didn’t pull her punches in the report she provided to the Government on 22 November 2023.
“In the circumstances, I have concluded that he failed to act impartially and that it would be very difficult for any Government to trust Mr Pezzullo to maintain their confidences and for him to be considered apolitical in their future dealings with him.”
In the closing remarks of the report, she concluded:
“In this particular instance, with Mr Pezzullo having breached so many elements of the Code and the APS Values,
I cannot imagine a reason why he should avoid consequence or continue in his current position.”
Five days later, he was gone.
A Walkley-winning story
Two months prior, journalists Nick McKenzie, Michael Bachelard and Amelia Ballanger had broken the story that Home Affairs Secretary Mike Pezzullo, one of the most powerful public servants in Australia, had engaged in a five-year-long WhatsApp ‘affair’ with Liberal Power Broker Scott Briggs (no relation to Lynelle) in order to promote conservatives, oust enemies and revamp the national security regime.
The story won the 2024 Walkley All Media: Scoop of the Year award.
Background image by Matthew Absalom-Wong
Scott Briggs
Mr Briggs was Finance Director of the NSW Liberal Party (2016-18), Chief Operating Officer of the NSW Liberal Party (2005-07), Adviser to Turnbull & Partners (2003-05), and confidant to Prime Ministers Mr Turnbull and Mr Morrison, amongst other things.
His business career covered areas that in one way or another involve government, including government advisory, foreign investment, visa processing, security and risk assessments and response, processing large-scale government transactions, and public-private partnerships, through companies including one called DPG Advisory, which received a sole-source contract from Home Affairs in 2021.
Relevant to the sensitivity of the information Mr Pezzullo shared with Mr Briggs, Mr Briggs had never been engaged as an APS employee or contractor, was never employed or engaged by any Ministerial or Parliamentary office, and did not hold an appropriate security clearance.
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WhatsApp chats
It is well understood in the Westminster System that there is a clear divide between the activities of the government and politicians more generally, and those of the public service. Public servants cannot behave in a manner that seeks to influence political events or impose their political views on or at their work, and must manage their conduct in a way that avoids actual or perceived conflicts of interest or political interests.
It is well beyond the political dividing line for a public servant at any level to insert their views and intervene in Ministerial appointments, which are rightly the purview of the Prime Minister and other elected representatives.
Pezzullo broke the boundaries in a most serious way. Between March 2017 and April 2023, 1,400 text messages were exchanged between Mr Pezzullo and Mr Briggs, 755 of which originated from Mr Pezzullo. The messages had been sent at all times of the day, including during normal business hours.
Lynelle Brigs wrote:
“The reported messages exchanged between Mr Pezzullo and Mr Briggs were regular and often and extended over a prolonged period, [redacted]. The reported messages cover a wide range of matters pertinent to Ministers, Secretaries, the nature of the Department of Home Affairs, government policy and delivery relevant to Mr Pezzullo’s work. Mr Pezzullo acknowledges that the engagements “pertained to the implementation of the government’s policies and priorities”. I am therefore satisfied that there was a reasonable connection with Mr Pezzullo’s employment to render them in scope for the Inquiry.”
The transparency fight
On 27 November, the APS Commissioner released a media statement regarding the Pezzullo inquiry. It mentioned five allegations that had been made against Mr Pezzullo (In fact, as we shall see, there were more, some of which were unsubstantiated), advised that the report recommend he be terminated in his role as Secretary, and advised that “No further information regarding the contents of the Inquiry will be provided by the Australian Public Service Commission”.
They were not counting on this media outlet’s pursuit of the report.
Departmental secretaries have considerable power, influence and responsibilities. Like Caesar’s wife, a departmental secretary must be above reproach.
In order for the public (and indeed officials) to repose confidence and trust in a departmental secretary, they must be confident there are mechanisms in place to properly deal with any prima facie allegation against that secretary.
Confidence can only come from transparency – the public (and officials) must see the nature of the allegations, the manner in which they are investigated and dealt with (which includes finding of allegations that are baseless), and they must see that an official can fearlessly assist with an inquiry, and feel proud (and be congratulated) for doing so.
The battle in the Administrative Review Tribunal, being fought by top-end of-town law firm Clayton Utz, is not over, but much of the report has been released under the pressure of the proceedings. MWM will assert in the Tribunal that the public interest in the remainder of the report being released is overwhelming.
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PM’s executive summary
In the following parts of this expose, MWW will provide details of seven allegations made against Mr Pezzullo, the analysis of the evidence, the findings of facts and the ultimate determination of the allegation.
We publish now for the first time Lynelle Brigg’s somewhat shocking full summary of the findings as she wrote to Prime Minister Albanese on 22 November 2023:
“Although Mr Pezzullo denied many of the allegations, I have found that he has breached various provisions of the Code (as contained in section 13 of the PS Act) in several respects, as follows:
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- … that he failed to act with care and diligence in connection with his APS employment, in so far as he sought to gain an advantage for himself in his engagement with Mr Briggs and failed to declare a conflict of interest in the DPG Advisory direct sourced contract;
- … that he failed to treat everyone with respect and courtesy, in so far as he was disparaging of and otherwise passed judgement on Ministers, disparaged Secretaries and their Departments and otherwise failed to demonstrate the level of professionalism, courtesy and integrity expected of senior public officials;
- he failed to maintain appropriate confidentiality about dealings with any Minister or Minister’s member of staff, in so far as he communicated regularly with Mr Briggs, who was not employed in government and did not hold a security clearance, on sensitive government-related matters and breached Ministerial confidentiality on a number of occasions;
- he failed to take reasonable steps to avoid any conflict of interest, nor did he disclose that interest in so far as he failed to take reasonable steps to avoid and disclose details of his personal relationship with Mr Briggs and in the granting of a contract to Mr Briggs’s company DPG Advisory in 2021;
- he improperly used inside information or his duties, status, power or authority to seek to gain a benefit or advantage in terms of Ministerial appointments or machinery of government changes, and he sought to cause detriment to certain Ministers and officials and their departments;
he failed to behave in a way that at all times upholds the APS Values and the integrity and good reputation of his Agency and the APS, as demonstrated by his failure to comply with all of the APS Values at various times during his engagement with Mr Briggs; and - he failed to comply with any other conduct requirements prescribed by the regulations, namely regarding the disclosure of confidential information that would be prejudicial to the effective workings of government.”
Lynelle Briggs concluded that Mr Pezzullo has also failed in his duty under section 12 of the PS Act to uphold and promote the APS Values in his role as an Agency Head.
“Although I recognise Mr Pezzullo’s perspective that his discussions with Mr Briggs were centred on public policy objectives, as distinct from attaining personal benefit, financial or otherwise, I have found to the contrary.”
More to follow …
Rex Patrick is a former Senator for South Australia and, earlier, a submariner in the armed forces. Best known as an anti-corruption and transparency crusader, Rex is also known as the "Transparency Warrior."