Home affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo sacked for breaching government code of conduct

Michael Pezzullo, the longtime boss of Australia’s home affairs department, has been removed from the top job after an independent inquiry found he had breached the government’s code of conduct at least 14 times, including for using his power for personal benefit.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, released a statement on Monday morning revealing the governor general had terminated Pezzullo’s appointment as secretary of the home affairs department on his advice.

One of Australia’s top public servants, Pezzullo had been asked to stand aside in September while an independent inquiry, conducted by former senior bureaucrat Lynelle Briggs probed a series of text messages he had allegedly sent to a Liberal party insider in an attempt to influence political processes.

Briggs’ inquiry found Pezzullo breached the rules on at least 14 occasions in relation to five “overarching allegations”.

Those allegations included using his power, status or authority to “seek to gain a benefit or advantage for himself”, failing to act apolitically, failing to disclose a conflict of interest and failing to maintain confidentiality of sensitive government information.

It also found Pezzullo engaged in “gossip and disrespectful critique” of ministers and public servants.

The Australian public service commission said it released details of the probe into Pezzullo’s actions in the public interest due to the “public nature of the allegations and the importance of upholding confidence in the Australian public service”.

Stephanie Foster will continue to act as department secretary.

On Friday, the government’s salary umpire, the Remuneration Tribunal, quietly made a ruling revoking a requirement that secretaries and agency heads receive a payout if they’re sacked for breaching the rules.

Like the former department head Kathryn Campbell before him, Pezzullo had been stood aside on his full pay package, which is worth more than $900,000 a year.

The Community and Public Sector Union welcomed the decision on Monday, with national secretary, Melissa Donnelly, saying it was “an appropriate and necessary step”.

“Far too often we have seen everyday public servants being held to a higher standard than their bosses,” Donnelly said.

“Both Mike Pezzullo and Kathryn Campbell demanded a level of commitment and compliance from their workforce that they themselves could not demonstrate.”

‘You need a rightwinger in there’

The Age and 60 Minutes first revealed in September a series of texts between Pezzullo and Liberal powerbroker Scott Briggs in which the home affairs secretary disparaged senior Coalition ministers and advocated for a rightwinger to be the minister responsible for his department.

According to the report, on 21 August 2018 – in the week that Peter Dutton challenged Malcolm Turnbull resulting in Scott Morrison becoming Liberal leader – Pezzullo texted Briggs about who would serve as home affairs minister.

“You need a right winger in there – people smugglers will be watching … please feed that in,” he reportedly messaged.

Pezzullo also reportedly said he “almost had a heart attack” when he saw the then foreign minister, Julie Bishop, considered contesting the leadership.

Pezzullo reportedly replied he was “ready to serve. Same goes for Dutton too, of course” after Briggs informed him Morrison was the frontrunner.

“I don’t wish to interfere but you won’t be surprised to hear that in the event of ScoMo [Scott Morrison] getting up I would like to see [Peter] Dutton come back to HA [home affairs].”

Pezzullo also reportedly described Labor’s Kristina Keneally as “looking quite unhinged” on the day before the Bennelong byelection in December 2017. Keneally would later serve as shadow home affairs minister.

Before the five super Saturday byelections in July 2018, when Briggs advised that Turnbull was “confident” the Liberal party could gain two seats from Labor, Pezzullo reportedly remarked “that will change the game”.

“Not my business but you will need to be careful about rushing to capitalise at the polls. Punters hate that,” he reportedly said.

Controversy and headlines

A former deputy chief of staff to then-Labor leader Kim Beazley in the early 2000s, Pezzullo went on to become one of the country’s most powerful bureaucrats.

In late 2014, he was appointed the secretary of the then immigration department before helming the newly created home affairs super department he advocated for in 2017.

Pezzullo was retained as home affairs boss after the Albanese government was elected with his term due to expire in October 2024.

However, Pezzullo’s time at the top often attracted controversy and headlines.

The senior bureaucrat, often labelled a “security tsar”, was criticised for his use of language after making veiled references to the “drums of war” during heightened tensions between Australia and China.

“In a world of perpetual tension and dread, the drums of war beat – sometimes faintly and distantly, and at other times more loudly and ever closer,” he wrote in his 2021 Anzac Day speech.

In another instance, Pezzullo’s department was embroiled in political controversy after Morrison government staff put pressure on the Australian Border Force to urgently draft and release a statement on election day about an asylum seeker boat being intercepted.

However a report, authored by Pezzullo, excused the polling day actions, finding the then home affairs minister, Karen Andrews, was within her power to demand the ABF release a statement and the department was powerless to refuse.