Kathryn Campbell, advisor to the AUKUS program on $900,000 per year, has been suspended for her role in the fraudulent Robodebt Scheme and is possibly facing criminal charges. Most people would not know whether her suspension is justified or not but in the video below she is in full flight lying, deceiving and showing contempt for a Senate hearing into Robodebt.
What is also concerning is her friendship with National Anti-Corruption Commissioner (NACC) Paul Brereton, but more on that in a minute.
Kathryn Campbell’s background can be read on Wikipedia but her key role in Robodebt was overseeing it when she was Secretary of the Department of Human Services from March 2011 to September 2017 and then she moved to the Department of Social Services from September 2017 to July 2021.
An ABC article on some of the victims and the Robodebt Royal Commission findings said “roughly 443,000 welfare recipients” received false debt notices.
There are 3 parts to the below video. In the first part Kathryn Campbell gives a speech at the Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA) in September 2018 where she tells the audience what Robodebt is and shares jokes. In part 2 Kathryn Campbell gives evidence at a federal Senate hearing in 2020 and she claims she does not know what Robodebt is and is very aggressive responding to the Senators. In part 3 Kathryn Campbell gives evidence at the Robodebt Royal Commission and she is very sombre as she clearly knows she is in a lot of trouble.
Scott Morrison was Prime Minister from the 24th of August 2018 until the 23rd of May 2022 which is when both part 1 and part 2 in the below video occurred which is important to note because at the time Kathryn Campbell would have known she is protected and her arrogance shone through, especially at the Senate hearing in 2020.
(Click here to watch the above video on YouTube)
Does anyone remember how many people the Scott Morrison government forced the billionaire and millionaire company owners to pay back the $billions in overpayments and fraudulent claims of Jobkeeper? Answer: Zero percent.
From Wikipedia: Appointment to AUKUS
On 31 May, 2023, Senator Jacqui Lambie questioned Greg Moriarty on his appointment of Campbell to the $900,000 job as a supervisor for the AUKUS nuclear submarine project, specifically because she has been the central figure in the Robodebt scandal. Although Moriarty said that at the time he appointed Campbell there was no Royal Commission, her responsibilities for Robodebt were already well-known, as were her denials including to Senate Estimates. Lambie described Campbell’s appointment as a disgrace. Campbell was suspended without pay from the role three days after the release of the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme. (Click here to read more)
I published the below video on Tuesday the 20th of July 2023 titled “Anthony Albanese flags sacking Robodebt fraudster Kathryn Campbell to keep the peasants happy” as it seems there is a good chance that Kathryn Campbell will be thrown under the bus to protect the politicians involved in Robodebt.
(Click here to watch the above video on YouTube)
The Robodebt Royal Commission referred some matters to the National Anti-Corruption Commission and one key matter that needs investigating is how the AFP allowed their logo to be used on Robodebt letters to intimidate the public as per the below letter:
I received a tip that Kathryn Campbell, who is a former Major General in the Army Reserve (retired 2021), knows the National Anti-Corruption Commissioner (NACC) Paul Brereton who is also a Major General in the Army Reserve.
Given the NACC has it’s hearings in private, except in exception circumstances, and given the Robodebt Royal Commission concealed who it has recommended for criminal charges, will the NACC properly investigate Kathryn Campbell if she has been recommended for criminal charges.
From 2016 in The Australian: From desk job to calling the shots
One of Australia’s most senior public servants who runs the Department of Human Services, including Centrelink’s massive operations, has been serving for three months as second in command of Australia’s forces in the Middle East. Kathryn Campbell is a brigadier in the Army Reserve and was picked for the key operational role by Army Chief Angus Campbell.
From the Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn website (Year unknown) Kathryn Campbell with her husband John Brennan and daughters:
Georgia Brennan, John Brennan, Elizabeth Brennan and Kathryn Campbell.
It is hard to find much information about Kathryn Campbell’s husband John Brennan but the Canberra Times says this about him in September 2021 when the ADF helped with Covid borders:
“Colonel John Brennan, a reservist who usually works with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, has been drawn in to run the Canberra-based Joint Task Group 629.9, based out of Fairbairn.”
The tip I received said that Kathryn Campbell’s husband John Brennan is also good friends with NACC Commissioner Paul Brereton.
From the last paragraph of page 3 of Frontline – A defence service journal (December 2018 issue):
“The Association Annual Reunion was held in Orange on the weekend of 26 & 27 October with numbers slightly down due to a clash of “engagements” with the Regimental Weekend in Holsworthy. This clash precluded the attendance of the Colonel Commandant, MAJGEN Paul Brereton AM, RFD, BRIG Kathryn Campbell CSC and COL John Brennan and the CO, 1/19 RNSWR, LTCOL Ian Pattingale all of whom expressed regret at their inability to be in two places at the same time.” (Click here to read more)
That means Paul Brereton, Kathryn Campbell and her husband John Brennan were at the Regimental Weekend in Holsworthy at Holsworthy together in December 2018. So, we do know that they at least socialised together to some degree.
I’m told there are pictures of Paul Brereton, Kathryn Campbell and her husband John Brennan together on Army Reserve Facebook pages but I haven’t found any at this point. Their close relationship and the secrecy of the NACC and Robodebt Royal Commission criminal recommendations raises the real perception of a possible cover-up which wouldn’t be so obvious if there was open justice like it is meant to be.
I’ll keep investigating and if anyone knows more, please email me.
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Categories: Prime Minister Scott Morrison
Someone should be commissioned to conduct The Anatomy of Australia. Jobs not only for the boys but also the girls.
Judge Paul Brereton has a history of protecting military personal in court.
He was a bad choice to head up the NACC.
He should recuse himself from this investigation and not coerce and intimidate the replacement investigator.
Agree, thank you !
CSC is Conspicuous Service Cross. The bar indicates a second conspicuous service award.
Although just a lowly Centrelink front line worker (APS4) in a local office in Adelaide’s outer southern suburbs for 30 years. I sat across the negotiating table from both Ms Campbell & the late Ms Golightly (at different times) . I was the workplace delegate (CPSU) for about 25 years, but also represented Members in SA at National Consultative Forums in the late 1980s’ early 1990’s . After my kids were a bit older, I was involved in EB negotiations twice again as SA CPSU rep. Its there in the early 2000’s that I met both of those named in the RC , but of course they weren’t holding the ‘high office’ they later rose too! Both seemed ‘coat tailers’ and NOT the ‘best’ SES Officers I had the pleasure of working with over many years. I finally retired after 30 years on ‘The Front Line” in 2012 . In doing that I DEFINITELY missed being sacked . Ir was pretty clear VERY early on in the ROBODEBT (2015) saga that without ANY major legislative changes that using the ‘averaging ‘ method was just illegal. Many workers in the office I worked in , whom I’m still friends with to this day who continued to be employed were bullied, told to ‘shut up or ship out’ and their social media pages were monitored by Team leaders. The CPSU were aware of this & issued a number of National Bulletins around the 2013/2014 timeframes. These of course preceded Robo debts, BUT it seems that this part of the ‘vacuum /void’ the Fed LNP were working in was not part of the ‘story’ To my mind WITHOUT this Robodebts would have ‘died’ as hundreds of front line workers would have spoken out. So what what the ‘seed ‘ that saw Robodebt bloom ‘unchallenged’ “ Well within a few months of winning office PM Abbott tightened & restated the APS COC . THIS underlined that ALL serving APS staff were to CEASE speaking up publicly about ANY policy changes the new Fed LNP Govt had brought in, particularly if it was for the same Dept that employed them. Any comments made on ANY social media would be used as ‘evidence’ and penalties ranged from a written reprimand, to demotion, & the sack. PLUS possible criminal changes for breaching the COC. The CPSU was AGAIN aware & involved in this & tried to advise members & mitigate impacts . 12 months after this PM Abbott extended the ‘gag’ to ALL NGO’s /NFP that received Fed Govt Funding that PUBLIC comment on Fed Govt Policy was no longer permitted. . This was catastrophic as many acted as Advocates for those who were MOST effected By FED LNP GOVT changes. One of the most vulnerable groups in this was those denied DSP payments both at the new claim stages & medical review stage that were forced on to the MUCH less then ‘Newstart’. This was seen as a ‘Budget Saving ‘ mechanism & included in budgets. During this time DSP New Claim grants were pushed to the lowest level EVER seen . In fact in Adelaide the now defunct “Welfare Rights “ organisation that had existed for over 40 years was forced to ‘re write’ their ‘Statement of Purpose’ which they operated under to continue to receive Fed Govt Funding . In Adelaide this organisation had provided free advocacy services from when I first joined “Social Security” in 1981 . They were staffed by qualified lawyers who would assist & guide those through the ‘maze’ of Appeals particularly in the DSP area. SO its in this vacuum that staff who WORKED at the frontline who KNEW Robodebts were illegal in 2015 & Advocate groups who in the past had publicly spoken up were silenced.
Why isn’t Labor involved in the Robo Debt RC seeing it was Bill Shorten & Tanya Plibersek who commenced it and boasted of how many $$ Millions they were expecting to have been returned to the Treasury ?
From what I can tell they did not start Robodebt as it ended up with the income averaging. If they did I’m sure they would have been called to the Royal Commission and Peter Dutton and the rest of the opposition would have blamed them. The fact that the opposition aren’t blaming them I think it confirms that.
From Wikipedia:
The Robodebt scheme was an unlawful method of automated debt assessment and recovery implemented under the Abbott government and employed by the Australian government agency, Services Australia, as part of its Centrelink payment compliance program. Put in place in July 2016 and announced to the public in December of the same year, the scheme aimed to replace the formerly manual system of calculating overpayments and issuing debt notices to welfare recipients with an automated data-matching system that compared Centrelink records with averaged income data from the Australian Taxation Office. Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robodebt_scheme
Labor did not start Robodebt. They had a system of manual checks and did not use averaging of income. This was one of the lies of Morrison pointed out by the Commission
Labor might not have started the Morrison final form of Robodebt but knowing, as they must have from 2015 to May 2019 – many recipients of the false debt notices would have contacted their Labor MPs, and did nothing.
No calls for a Royal Commission during that time, or as an election promise in 2016 or 2019, unlike the 26 calls for a Royal Commission into the Banking and Financial system.
Only brought the lawyers in about a week after the Labor loss in May 2019. Would Shorten have kept Robodebt?
And have they?
We know the Gillard government, I expect under instruction from Shorten wouldn’t increase Newstart from $35/week in 2012. And increasing Newstart/Jobseeker has never been a policy of the Labor Party since 2012.
The myth of ‘lifters’ and ‘learners’ is strong in Labor too.
And a recent ABC report, published last week, suggests Robodebt like notices are still going out to vulnerable people.
Robodebt may have been dumped, but carers, pensioners and parents receiving childcare support say Centrelink’s debt recovery processes are still causing distress and confusion.
Some welfare recipients have been unable to find out why they owe Centrelink money.
Debt notices are routinely sent out with little information about how the amount was calculated using “semi-threatening” language, advocates for welfare recipients say.
Needs further investigation.
Dear Helen C, most interesting input and from other former staffers from DSS then Centrelink, the same opinions are also expressed, most chose to take redundancies and jettison their former employer for good reason, as the same reasons you state here. Amazing that the worst of these issues arose under LNP including the absolute grubs of Parliament, the likes of Howard and Abbott then in later years, the even more despicable MPs who were mentioned at the Inquiry and who receive free legals paid by us, the taxpaying public, which shows the current despicable MPs who approve the covering of legal costs to defend their opposition colleagues and who continue to prosecute genuine whistleblowers are no better than the grubs who previously rorted every opportunity they could, would suggest you were grateful to retire from the Commonwealth Public Service but continue to have memories of the despicable acts by these overpaid so called leaders still within the CPS.
During the recent Royal Commission, Justin Gregory QC, exposes that Tudge said Robodebt was started by Labor but had only referred to the automation on garnishees on existing debts,.
Greggery QC reveals internal documents show the old process!
Greggery brings up an email from Tudge’s COS to DHS’ Malisa Golightly, asking if Tudge can say it is the same system, but Golightly’s response: “customers now carry” more “responsibility”
Greggery: “That clearly communicated to u that there had been a change to the onus”
If u think this is all that changed under the debt management system under the LNP, you’d be dead wrong.
This debt system under LNP
– breached the social security act
– breached information commissioner guidelines
– bypassed the data matching act which previously applied…
– Interventions increased from 20k p/year to 20k p/week
– DHS arranged with ATO to no longer be subject to periodical audits
– forced all users onto an online platform riddled with flaws
– removed Centrelink ph no from letters
– added AFP logo to letters…
– Ran Pilot Testing with outrageous & incomplete results but still went ahead
– Threatened imprisonment without a legal basis to do so
– Sent private citizen’s data to media if they complained or made noise
– Resisted publishing its Data Matching methods online as required…
– Knowingly provided false facts & figures to the media about the scheme
– Mislead the Ombudsman in its robodebt investigation
– Had misleading debt letters which included the AFP logo on the letterhead suggesting recipients not need to respond
– Applied a 10% ‘recovery’ fee to those who didn’t agree or respond…
– had their own designated list of ‘friendly media’ they could rely on to defend the scheme
– Used PwC contractors for an audit, paid for it but received no report
– Provided debt collection agencies with their own set of scripts & conducted their own exclusive training…
– Got more aggressive when ppl didn’t pay, applying penalties such as Travel bans
– Disregarded AAT decisions & sacked a head in the dept who was against the scheme.
So remind me why you think this is the same system as the Labor party!
Why did the Labor government discreetly appoint Kathryn Campbell as a special advisor on the AUKUS submarine project with a huge salary package of nearly $900,000 a year?
Campbell had not come out the RoboDebt Commission looking good. But at her time of redeployment to Defence, the Royal Commission into RoboDebt hadn’t even commenced, yet, at that time the Government knew the Robodebt program was a governance scandal and Campbell was the Secretary of Human Services in 2015 when RoboDebt started and shifted across to the Secretary of Social Security in 2017 when the scheme was starting to reach full flight. Yet, Albanese created a job out of thin air for her? Why did he contravene the normal process to put Campbell in a $900K per annum job?
Something doesn’t sit right and questions need to be asked.
Penny Wong didn’t want to her at her new department. Wong got rid of Campbell to protect herself. You can’t just fire a public servant without cause, they needed a place to put her, with the same employment conditions, until the RC ran its course.
If they had sacked her at that time she could have sued them for wrongful dismissal as there was no evidence. Any evidence they had was circumstantial or rumours. Given she was on a very high salary she would have had the means to run a court case. Further they could not reduce her salary in the other role.
Albanese did not create the job it was the Secretary of the Defence Dept. Moriarity (who I think has a lot answer for and hopfully might find a cell next to Campbell).
As for the secret list of people who Commissioner Holmes developed I support her for doing this to prevent preditual public speculation and the court cases being unable to proceed. I want these horrible humans to pay as dear a price as is possible. Prime example is the Lehrman / Higgins affair neither got justice because of all the tripe written by the press.
Malisa Golightly did the honourable thing in the end by falling on her sword (metaphorically).
It is disappoint that she passed. I wonder wheter she would have filled some of the blanks at the Royal Commission.
You mentioned you didn’t know what CSC and Bar meant – it is not relating to being a barrister – it is the Conspicuous Service Cross for military achievement/s – more info here: https://www.pmc.gov.au/honours-and-symbols/list-australian-honours/conspicuous-service-cross. A bar is given where there is more than one achievement of conspicuous service.
Clearly the ALP feds had to do something with Campbell pro tem ( until there has been an inquiry into personal culpability) and as she was a major general I guess staffing the new Aukus structure came up but why a near million bucks pa is way beyond reasonable
The Catholic Church seems to have this Reservist mob firmly in their unhealthy thrall. I tried searching Moriarty, Campbell(x2), Brennan, Brereton and found no references to religion, primary schooling, high schooling, youth organisations. Says it all. Can KCA establish the links?
The is a link in the article to the Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn where I found the picture.
Did Angus Campbell hand out a sinecure to his namesake as part of her CSC?
Great work again KCA we need some accountability to these corrupt grubs
“Pretence cannot sustain blind power.”
― Dejan Stojanovic
So, it’s all caught up for Kathryn Campbell. No one else to blame except …
Now who’s next?
Thank you KCA.
Many thanks to the DSP insiders here for their helpful background info on Robodebt.
My latest video: Governor-General David Hurley, his $18 million fraud and his mate NACC Commissioner Paul Brereton – https://youtu.be/0HBQzpLxfz4
A Centrelink officer told me over the phone that I was eligible for a higher rate of payments. Then they changed their mind and issued debt letters. I lost thousands of dollars because of that. Services Australia sent me an internal appeal decision made by an anonymous person. I could not even discuss the decision as no phone number was provided. Can BIll Shorten or Amanda Rishworth confirm that it is legal?