Mike Pezzullo’s mea culpa should convince no-one that he understands the seriousness of his breaches of the Code of Conduct or the responsibilities that go with being a departmental secretary.

He still seems not to appreciate the fundamental Westminster principle of the separation of politics from administration. He blurs the two in his claim that he was really only exercising bureaucratic influence, not political influence, and only got some of the channels wrong. His behaviour was blatantly political in both substance and the channels of influence he used. As such, he clearly did not uphold the APS Value of being ‘impartial’ which under the Public Service Act includes being ‘apolitical’; he therefore breached the APS Code of Conduct. (Lynelle Briggs of course found a number of other breaches.)

Amongst the statutory responsibilities of secretaries is to be a ‘leader, providing stewardship within the department and … across the APS’. Surely this implies even more integrity than that required of SES officers who must ‘by personal example … promote the APS Values’, not just uphold them. Pezzullo’s suggestion that his behaviour only warranted censure or reprimand shows how little he appreciates the leadership responsibilities of secretaries.

Central to the role of a secretary also is a relationship of trust with ministers – the secretary’s own minister, the other ministers with whom he engages directly or indirectly, and indeed the Government and the Opposition as a whole. As senior politicians on both sides have made clear, Pezzullo’s behaviour caused the loss of such trust. He had to go. Any less a penalty would have revealed a degree of tolerance for secretaries’ untrustworthiness and diluted the importance of the APS Values.

Campbell

Following the Robodebt Royal Commission, Kathryn Campbell has also been forced to leave, though as yet no formal breach of the Code of Conduct (or other illegal behaviour) has been........

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