Government may rue the day Pezzullo was unleashed

Undeniably a “player” bureaucrat, Pezzullo worked the Canberra machine to pursue his agenda of an Australia ready for the new world of strategic competition, electronic warfare and effective borders.

This saw him clash both with ministers – his fight with then-attorney general George Brandis was legendary – and with public servant colleagues he perceived as appeasers. Witness his searing texts to Liberal lobbyist Scott Briggs that led to his downfall.

Pezzullo knew his time was up once these had been published. While senior ministers and top officials privately “bag” each other every other day of the week, the authorised release of the private texts meant the public service review was always going to find him in breach of the code of conduct.

Originally of Catholic faith, Pezzullo will most certainly have time to reflect on his own demise and the obvious venality that brought him down. But Australia will be the worse to lose his intellect, knowledge and clear-eyed views. No matter how unfashionable they be.

Undoubtedly, there will be many international strategic think tanks who will jostle for his insider’s understanding of how big government works, especially in Washington DC, where Pezzullo’s views are considered mainstream.

As the demise of Qantas chief Alan Joyce and Optus boss Kelly Bayer Rosmarin demonstrate, there has been a distinct turning against high-profile leaders who fall foul of publicly acceptable standards.

That bar continues to rise and was also behind the rushed Remuneration Tribunal changes, promulgated last Friday, to ensure Pezzullo gets no payout for his early departure.

Whether that clearly retrospective action survives is to be seen. But the robo-debt royal commission exposed large gaps in how poor mandarin performance is dealt with and sanctioned. That has seen a rush of changes to ensure public sector leaders behaviours are no longer immune from oversight.