Catherine Holmes AC SC, deliberately protected corrupt politicians and public servants when she handed down her findings for the Robodebt Scheme Royal Commission. The Royal Commission ultimately turned out to be a stitch up to silence the public and not much else.

Social media users, during the Robodebt Royal Commission, built Catherine Holmes’s reputation up to that of a working-class hero who defended the poor and helpless against the rich and powerful.

But at the end of the day, if you judge a Royal Commission and it’s Commissioner by the number of people who are held to account, then Catherine Holmes can only be regarded as a total failure as the Commissioner. Catherine Holmes making a few people squirm in the witness box is hardly being held to account.

Unlike other Royal Commissions, Catherine Holmes sealed a section of her report which has recommendations for people to face civil and criminal changes.

The Trade Union Governance and Corruption Royal Commission and the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse both recommended criminal charges against numerous people and published the names of the people, the evidence of the alleged crimes and the recommended charges.

So, what made the Robodebt Scheme Royal Commission so special that Commissioner Catherine Holmes decided to protect the people involved in the crimes. I suspect because former Prime Minister Scott Morrison and other federal politicians were up to their necks in the crimes and cover-up of Robodebt.

The Attorney-Attorney respect law – (From the book – Winning Through Intimidation by Robert J. Ringer)

I read the sales book “Winning Through Intimidation” years ago and I’ve always remembered the Attorney-Attorney respect law that it spoke about where lawyers always look after each other. Because today lawyer 1 might be in the box seat to drive a good deal against lawyer 2 but tomorrow the roles might be reversed.

There were, and still are, a lot of lawyers in a lot of trouble for their conduct during Robodebt and I think Catherine Holmes was also suffering from a bit of the “Attorney-Attorney respect law” fever when she decided to conceal the names of people recommended for criminal and civil charges.

People like Catherine Holmes are also reliant on politicians for their careers, promotions and appointments and maybe she decided protecting Scott Morrison and the Liberal Party was a good career move if she wanted future appointments. Because we all know how politicians hate people who shine a light on political corruption.

Commissioner Catherine Holmes, former prime minister Scott Morrison, ex Coalition ministers Alan Tudge and Stuart Robert, and top bureaucrat Kathryn Campbell.

Robodebt Royal Commission

The Robodebt Royal Commission was established on the 18th of August 2022 to enquire into the establishment, design and implementation of the Robodebt scheme; the use of third-party debt collectors under the Robodebt scheme; concerns raised following the implementation of the Robodebt scheme; and the intended or actual outcomes of the Robodebt scheme.

In the conduct of its enquiry, the Commission conducted 46 days of hearings, with appearances by more than 100 witnesses. The Commission’s report was delivered on 7 July 2023. (Click here to read more)

The Guardian reported (7th of July 2023):

The commission’s 900-page report released on Friday found the “cruel and crude” scheme was “devised without regard to the social security law” using an averaging process to estimate welfare recipients’ income in a manner that “was essentially unfair, treating many people as though they had received income at a time when they had not”.

Holmes accused the architects of Robodebt of “an obliviousness to, or worse a callous disregard, of the fact that many welfare recipients had neither the means nor the ability to negotiate an online system” to provide evidence of their income dating back five years.

An unknown number of key figures have been referred for civil and criminal charges, although the names are in a sealed chapter of the report that has not been released publicly.

Robodebt had “disastrous effects” including “families struggling to make ends meet receiving a debt notice at Christmas, young people being driven to despair by demands for payment, and, horribly, an account of a young man’s suicide”, the report said.

The royal commission’s report is scathing of the former prime minister Scott Morrison, former government services minister Stuart Robert and former department of human services secretary Kathryn Campbell. It also damns Alan Tudge, who was human services minister in 2017 when the Robodebt scheme was under scrutiny. (Click here to read more)

Who has been held to account for the Robodebt crimes?

To date, only one person to my knowledge, has been held to account for their role in the Robodebt scandal and that is Kathryn Campbell who “was the secretary of the Department of Human Services between 2011 to 2017 and was in the top job during Robodebt’s inception in 2014.”

“In 2022 the Labor government quietly appointed Ms Campbell as a special adviser on the AUKUS nuclear submarine project with a salary package of nearly $900,000 a year.”

On the 20th of July 2023 it was reported: “The senior bureaucrat who oversaw the rollout of the illegal Robodebt scheme has been suspended without pay following the damning findings of the royal commission. (Click here to read more)

A few days later on the 24th of July 2023 it was reported “Former senior public servant Kathryn Campbell has resigned from her $900,000 a year Department of Defence job in the wake of the Robodebt royal commission report.”

In a statement issued on Monday afternoon, the department said: “Defence can confirm it has accepted Kathryn Campbell’s resignation from the department with effect from Friday 21 July 2023.” The department said it would “not provide further comment on this matter”. (Click here to read more)

The Mandarin website has been keeping up to date about public servants etc being held to account

The Mandarin reported on the 10th of July 2023:

A cursory glance at the 57 recommendations of Catherine Holmes’ final report into the debt-raising government program that hurt nearly half a million Australians makes it painfully clear a lineup of federal department in-house lawyers need to pull their socks up and actually do their job.

Some others face being suspended or having their practising certificates torn to shreds and struck off the roll of lawyers for good.

The conclusions reached by the commissioner and former chief justice of the Queensland Supreme Court point an explicit index finger to scores of government lawyers whose professional oath to the court when they were admitted surely must be in question after what this inquiry has exposed. (Click here to read more)

How many of those lawyers have been sacked or had “their practising certificates torn to shreds and struck off the roll of lawyers for good”? None to my knowledge. They would have been long gone if Catherine Holmes had not sealed the section of her report which has recommendations for people to face civil and criminal changes.

The Mandarin reported on the 13th of November 2023:

Public servants set to escape sackings over Robodebt

Key public servants embroiled in the Robodebt scandal are now almost certain to escape dismissal or disciplinary sanctions while in their jobs, after Public Service Minister Katy Gallagher revealed there is still no timeline for the finalisation of investigations into breaches of the Australian Public Service Code of Conduct.

In a press conference featuring four ministers to issue the government’s formal response to the recommendations of the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme — all recommendations accepted or accepted in principle — not a single member of Cabinet was able to say what sanctions or disciplinary actions have been handed out to public servants adversely named in the epic inquiry.

The length of time being taken to complete the APS disciplinary investigations to their outcomes now appears to have robbed the government of the opportunity to be seen to be weeding out the senior public servants who were found to have constructed the illegal debt manufacturing machine at the behest of a quest for savings measures by the previous government. (Click here to read more)

The Mandarin reported on the 8th of February 2024:

Robodebt probe to grind on, update reveals no APS sackings

Eight months after the report of the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme was handed down and 16 unnamed individuals referred to a centralised inquiry into alleged breaches of the Code of Conduct by Australian Public Service employees, just one case has been concluded with the unnamed public servant let off.

In a long-awaited update released by the Australian Public Service Commission late on Thursday, the Australian Public Service Commission said 15 investigations had so far “proceeded to the issuing of notices outlining the grounds and categories for potential breach of the APS Code of Conduct” and that “four individuals have been issued a preliminary determination that they have breached one or more elements of the APS Code of Conduct”.

The glacial pace of the investigation means it is now next to certain that those public servants found as likely to have breached the APS Code of Conduct will be able to walk away from their jobs rather than being sacked or sanctioned in their APS roles. (Click here to read more)

Melbourne paedophile with links to prominent figures in the Victorian legal system has identity protected

At the time of writing this article the media are reporting that a man who has “links to prominent figures in the Victorian legal system” “has avoided jail after pleading guilty to a child sex offence”. The ABC reports:

“A Melbourne business figure who committed a “vile” child sex crime has been spared jail, with a judge ordering the offender’s identity be kept secret for two decades.” and that

The 20-year suppression order, formalised by Judge Peter Berman on Thursday, makes it illegal for anyone to publish the man’s name, age or other details that connect him to the crime.

The man has links to prominent figures in the Victorian legal system, and continued to work as a consultant in his field of expertise while his case was before the courts. (Click her to read more)

A man getting a 20-year suppression order to conceal his identity is not to protect the child because they get a permanent suppression order. It is Judge Peter Berman abiding by the “Attorney-Attorney respect law” because the man “has links to prominent figures in the Victorian legal system” or because of pure judicial corruption.

Why wasn’t an interstate judge called in to hear the matter given the man’s “links to prominent figures in the Victorian legal system”?

Justice Michael Lee – 7’s dodgy lawyer Richard Keegan

Justice Michael Lee, who heard the Bruce Lehrmann defamation case and will hand down his judgment at 10.15am on Monday the 15th of April 2024, has become a bit of a cult hero on social media just like Commissioner Catherine Holmes was a bit of a cult hero on social media during the Robodebt Royal Commission.

But people should always be conservative when talking up judges or former judges who are hearing inquiries until they hand down their judgments or reports. As we can see with Catherine Holmes above, she has gone from social media hero to the reality that she protected the people she was meant to be holding to account.

I remember Justice Lee on Friday the 5th of April in effect telling the court that 7’s lawyer Richard Keegan was innocent of the crime of telling former Seven staffer Taylor Auerbach to destroy evidence. (Click here to read more) It was a classic example of the “Attorney-Attorney respect law” at play where they all look after each other.

But Richard Keegan, who I delt with for about 8 years as he represented Kerry Stokes in his SLAPP lawsuits against me, has a long history of destroying evidence as per the below video I published on 9th of April 2024 where you can see Keegan refusing to deny evidence destruction allegations:

Justice Michael Lee was appointed as a Federal Court of Australia judge in 2017 by the Liberal Party and the Bruce Lehrmann defamation case could do major damage to the Liberal Party depending on the judgment. Because what Justice Lee says about the alleged rape and Brittany Higgins creditability as a witness could have far reaching and long-term ramifications.

So, it will be interesting to see if Justice Lee slants his judgment to protect the Liberal Party in any away especially given he stayed true to the “Attorney-Attorney respect law” in defending Richard Keegan.

Don’t forget that former Queensland judge Walter Sofronoff also had his fans on social media when he was Chairperson of the ACT Inquiry into the police cover-up of the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins. And we all know how that turned out with Walter Sofronoff now under criminal investigation.

If Catherine Holmes had published the names all the politicians and public servants she recommended for criminal and civil charges it would have sent a tsunami of a warning through the political and public service ranks of the federal government saying that corruption won’t be tolerated. But Catherine Holmes decided to keep the status quo and she should be remembered as failure as Robodebt Commissioner.

The previous Liberal / National Party coalition federal government was the most corrupt government we have ever had, and they had to go. But unless things change quickly, at the next federal election, in 12 months or less from now, the current Anthony Albanese led federal government won’t have many people, if any, in jail to show the public that they held the previous government to account.

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