NACC Commissioner Paul Brereton has been caught lying about his Robodebt recusal, because he is mates with Kathryn Campbell, after Freedom of Information (FOI) documents were obtained and published on social media.
Make no mistake, it’s a blatantly fake recusal designed by NACC Commissioner Paul Brereton to deceive the public.
National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) internal emails and documents have in effect confirmed Kathryn Campbell, one of the key crooks behind Robodebt, as Commissioner Paul Brereton’s secret friend who forced him to recuse himself from dealing with the “Robodebt 6” referrals.
Regular KCA readers know this website outed Paul Brereton’s and Kathryn Campbell’s friendship in July last year as a potential issue but having the NACC in effect confirm that raises more questions, as does the internal emails and documents obtained under Freedom of Information (FOI).
Background
The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) started operations on the 1st of July 2023.
On or about the 7th of July 2023 the NACC received a sealed section of the Robodebt Royal Commission Report which had 6 names of people recommended for further investigation by the NACC.
On the 6th of June 2024 the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) issued a press release saying they would not investigate, nor take any action, including against NACC Commissioner Paul Brereton’s good friend Kathryn Campbell, after sitting on the referral for 11 months. (Click here to read more)
On the 13th of June 2024 the Inspector of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, Gail Furness SC, announced that she will investigate the NACC for alleged “corrupt conduct” regarding the Robodebt cover-up” because the NACC has refused the investigate the 6 people that the Robodebt Royal Commission referred to them for investigation.
It’s also worth noting that on the 20th of June 2024 I published an article titled “Scott Morrison outed as 1 of the 6 referred to the NACC by the Robodebt RC – The prima facie case”. (Click here to read the article)
Kangaroo Court of Australia July 2023 articles re: Paul Brereton and Kathryn Campbell
This website broke the story in June 2023 that NACC Commissioner Paul Brereton, Kathryn Campbell and her husband John Brennan are friends.
On the 23rd of June 2023 I published an article titled “Kathryn Campbell’s Robodebt lies on video and her friendship with NACC Commissioner Paul Brereton” which says in part:
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 its 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.
and: 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. (Click here to read the full article)
On the 26th of July 2023 I published an article titled “Governor-General David Hurley, his $18 million fraud and his mate NACC Commissioner Paul Brereton” which starts off:
National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) Commissioner Paul Brereton is friends with Governor-General David Hurley and Robodebt fraudster Kathryn Campbell which creates a huge issue as corruption allegations against Hurley and Campbell have almost certainly been made to the NACC to evaluate and investigate if they think it is warranted.
As you will see in the pictures below Paul Brereton, David Hurley and Kathryn Campbell were senior Army officers at the Sydney University Regiment in 2008. You will also see photos of at least 2 of them together in 2016, 2022 and December 2022. (Click here to read the article and see the other photos) One of the photos is below:
NACC FOI documents – Requested and published by Twitter journalist Jommy Tee @jommy_tee
On the 8th of August 2024 Twitter journalist Jommy Tee posted documents and emails he received, via a Freedom of Information (FOI) request he made to the NACC, about Commissioner Paul Brereton recusing himself from the Robodebt referrals.
Jommy Tee was told that by the NACC, “I was informed by the NACC that 16 documents were in scope for my FOI request. I was only granted access to 8. Access to the remaining 8 were refused on Section 47 grounds.”
At a NACC Statutory Officers meeting on 3 July 2023, the NACC Commissioner, Paul Brereton, told his colleagues he had a potential conflict of interest. The minutes of the meeting, obtained under FOI reflect this as per below:
The final minutes of meeting detail the reason for Brereton’s potential conflict of interest and if the person(s) known to him were referred to the NACC “he would not be involved in the decision-making concerning (redacted).” as per below:
On the same day the Royal Commission’s final report was handed down on 7 July 2023, Brereton emailed his colleagues. By this stage it is confirmed that only one of the six names referred to the NACC was known to Brereton.
In Brereton’s email he recuses himself being the decision-maker in relation to the person referred to the NACC – delegating it to one of the NACC Deputy Commissioners. This appears to be the limit of his recusal as…..
“However, I will retain an overall interest in the policy questions that arise concerning these referrals generally, because those questions – particular the scope of “corrupt conduct” – will necessarily have ongoing ramifications for us.”
Interestingly, earlier drafts of the minutes used a different set of words…. inferring that the Commissioner Brereton may have known more than one person likely to be named in the sealed section. As per below:
Paul Brereton’s letter to the Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus
On the 11th of August 2023, Brereton wrote to the Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus, telling him about his conflict of interest and his recusal on decision-making involving one person, and the delegation on those limited matters to a Deputy Commissioner. Page 1 is below:
Page 2 is below:
By 16 August 2023, the limited recusal on decision-making re: 1 person had broadened to a more blanket recusal involving all decision-making on the Robodebt referral. Brereton continued to be aware of what was happening and thought there was no need to redact material he saw.
The above FOI documents and Twitter comments are from Twitter user Jommy Tee @jommy_tee who I have given the title “Twitter journalist” as he has done the job of a journalist.
NACC responds to questions from The Guardian
The Guardian published an article on the 9th of August 2024, the day after Jommy Tee’s Twitter thread above, based on the same FOI documents above. (Click here to read)
The Guardian sent questions to the NACC and published an article on the 15th of August 2024 with the NACC’s response.
The key new information in the NACC response was:
“The perceived conflict that resulted in the anti-corruption commissioner, Paul Brereton, recusing himself from decisions on Robodebt referrals was an apparent “close association” relating to his service in the army reserve.”
“That detail is contained in a more complete version of the national anti-corruption commissioner’s “declaration of material personal interests” sent to the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, and released by the NACC to Guardian Australia.”
Although final decisions on Robodebt were delegated to a deputy commissioner, the NACC confirmed that commissioner Brereton nevertheless “contributed his own views on some issues when requested or when he considered appropriate”.
Brereton disclosed ADF reserve affiliations including the royal New South Wales regiment and his roles as honorary colonel commandant of the University of New South Wales regiment and member of the regimental council of Sydney University regiment.
“Should a matter potentially affecting the interests of an individual with whom I have had or have a close association, or a unit or agency with which I have an affiliation, come before the commission, I would recuse myself from decision-making in respect of that matter,” he advised the attorney general.
The NACC said Brereton “retained visibility of significant steps taken” in relation to the Robodebt royal commission referrals, and “contributed his own views on some issues when requested or when he considered appropriate”. (Click here to read more)
The NACC’s response to The Guardian’s questions in effect confirms:
- My articles last year, and since then, about NACC Commissioner Paul Brereton, Kathryn Campbell and her husband John Brennan being friends from their Army Reserve association is true and correct. Exactly how well they know each other no one has said yet. For example, do they go to each other’s places for visits? Do they holiday together?
- The NACC’s response reinforces the fact that Paul Brereton’s recusal is a lie designed to deceive the public.
Every lawyer in Australia would not be able to stop laughing if they read a judge recused himself but then “retained visibility of significant steps taken” in relation to the matter and “contributed his own views on some issues when requested or when he considered appropriate”.
They are not the actions of a NACC Commissioner recusing himself from a matter, it’s the actions of a crook with total contempt for the rule of law.
As a side note, none of the old media, except The Guardian, have reported the latest developments of the Commissioner Paul Brereton / recusal scandal.
Also, none of the old media are naming Kathryn Campbell as the reason Paul Brereton recused himself, nor did The Guardian name her in their 2 articles I referenced above. Why are the old media so scared that they won’t name Kathryn Campbell as Paul Brereton’s friend?
Closing arguments
By the time Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus received the above letter on the 11th of August 2023 from Paul Brereton, this websites articles outing NACC Commissioner Paul Brereton, Kathryn Campbell and her husband John Brennan being friends had been all over social media since the 23rd and 26th of July.
So, it’s almost certain that Mark Dreyfus would have been already aware of the conflict of interest before he received the letter from Commissioner Paul Brereton.
The bottom line is NACC Commissioner Paul Brereton, Kathryn Campbell and her husband John Brennan are friends and Paul Brereton should have had nothing to do with the Robodebt referrals.
Nor should Brereton have had any knowledge about contents of the referral although he claims above “I do not think it necessary to redact any material – It is perfectly normal to receive and read evidence and then not take it into account because it is not admissible etc”.
Paul Brereton obviously takes everyone for a fool.
The key issue with a judge recusing themselves from a matter is not what they did or didn’t do. It’s the perception of bias, or apprehended bias, and it’s what the average person would think the judge might have possibly done.
The Judicial Commission of NSW website says:
The test for determining whether a judge should disqualify himself or herself by reason of apprehended bias is the objective “double might” test: “whether a fair-minded lay observer might reasonably apprehend that the judge might not bring an impartial and unprejudiced mind to the resolution of the question the judge is required to decide [emphasis added]”: Johnson v Johnson (2000) 201 CLR 488 at [11], affirmed in Ebner v Official Trustee in Bankruptcy (2000) 205 CLR 337 (Click here to read more)
The main concern with Commissioner Paul Brereton having knowledge of the details of the “Robodebt 6” referrals is that he might leak it to his friend Kathryn Campbell and as a former NSW Supreme Court judge Paul Brereton would know that, yet he still stuck his nose in anyhow.
The three NACC Deputy Commissioners, Ms Nicole Rose PSM, Dr Ben Gauntlett and Ms Kylie Kilgour would have also known that Commissioner Paul Brereton should have been nowhere near the matter. But, based on the FOI documents above, they didn’t say anything about him sticking his nose into the details.
It took the NACC 11 months to declare they wouldn’t investigate the “Robodebt 6”. Given the frivolous reasons they gave they would have known within weeks, if not days, that they would not investigate.
The NACC obviously dragged it out 11 months to take some of the heat out of the issue before they made their announcement because they wanted the public anger to die down a bit so the blowback wouldn’t be as bad.
Well, the blowback was bad enough to force the Inspector of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, Gail Furness SC, to investigate the NACC for the Robodebt cover-up. Given we have heard nothing, I suspect Gail Furness SC is still conducting her investigation.
The list of failures at the NACC is starting to build, but the above alone should force the sacking of Commissioner Paul Brereton, and the Deputy Commissioners shouldn’t survive either given they allowed it to happen.
I’ll keep on following up on this matter.
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Categories: Uncategorized
We shouldn’t be surprised. Once Labor and the Liberals got their heads together to make the NACC a secret squirrel, the whole concept of transparency and honesty was NACCered.
So while Scott Morrison is suspected of being one of the people sent for investigation, he now pops up in a major defamation case as a credible witness? (And paints himself as a victim).
Outrageous that none of the people behind the robodebt scandal are being protected by the current Government. The victims of this vicious scheme are owed full investigation of the 6 people in the secret report
Rum Corp at work in the Colon-y of Australia protected by an explotive unaccoubtable Judicial Structure.
So it appears the NACC was set up to fail from the beginning with the collusion of both political parties!!
Falling from a high tree could be very painfu.
It was an arse saving exercise by Albo to bring it in in its current form. Looking after the Lib/Lab duopoly of Federal politics. It’s just amazing that this esteemed blog can find the truth but the MSM (ABC included) is blissfully dumb about it, or is it complicit in the dishonesty.
I’m waiting for someone to find the connection between someone at NACC and the Operation Jersey (Pork-barrelling) inquiry in which ICAC referred individuals to NACC for investigation at conclusion. Recently NACC announced the same old ‘nothing to see here’ which is becoming a pattern, even though there is, obviously, actual evidence of fraud in OJ’s findings. What a sham, quickly becoming a house of cards.
As far as I know, the Robodebt Royal Commission uncovered more than 2,000 deaths caused by illegally accusing welfare recipients of income fraud. Vulnerable people driven to such despair that they could see no light at the end of their tunnel. Should that not be called out as mass murder? I know of parents that lost kids to this insidious crime caused by scam and co. Shame on you Albo!
Thanks for your great investigative journalism, KCA.
There were not 2000 deaths because of Robodebt.
Of the 500,000 people who received Robodebt bills about 2000 died over the course of Robodebt which ran for a number of years, but that was of natural causes.
There were some reported suicides that were blamed on Robodebt and from memory some relatives gave evidence to that effect at the Royal Commission.
Thanks KCA
I have spent a good part of my Sunday morning thinking about the topic of Travesty of Justice.
My conclusion is that in my opinion, a travesty of justice occurs when the legal system, intended to be a beacon of fairness and truth, fails so spectacularly that it mocks the very concept of justice. Instead of upholding the law, it distorts it, resulting in outcomes so profoundly unjust that they defy reason.
As an example, imagine a courtroom where evidence is ignored, the innocent are punished, and the guilty walk free with a smug smile. Here, rules are twisted, truth is buried, and the scales of justice tip not in favour of righteousness, but in service to corruption, bias, or sheer incompetence.
Further, a travesty of justice in the legal process, meant to be impartial, becomes a cruel parody. It’s a scenario where justice is not only denied but perverted, leaving victims with no recourse and general society with a sense of betrayal. It’s a painful reminder that when justice fails, it does so with devastating consequences, shaking the very foundation of trust in the legal and political systems.
It’s so absurd to think what may have happened in the highest echelons of bureaucracy. NACC Commissioner Paul Brereton has redefined “recusal” as the art of being everywhere, knowing everything, and doing absolutely nothing—all while swearing he’s not involved.
In breaking news, NACC have invited members of the public service to report instances of ímproper behavior (aka corruption) without disclosing their identity. I thought they (NACC) were snowed under with the workload they already have. Bet we don`t get to hear just what is reported by the public service.
Anthony Albanese and Richard Dreyfus enabled the NACC to be corrupt.
They should act now to disable it.
KCA, a couple of points on this seditious cell and in particular the head of the NACC. First, Brereton’s decision to delegate the decision to a specified Deputy, is a decision which could be full of bias, ie he delegated it to Deputy he knew would give him the result he wanted. He should have absented himself and left it to the Deputies to decide who would carry it forward. Second, I remain concerned the Commissioner would be involved in assessing Deputy’s performance (incl performance pay) and advising the AG on their re-appointment. This would mean that Deputies are also tainted with apprehended bias (ie. to please their boss) or have a conflict of interest as others call it. Third, and what a waste if resources having the NACC survey attitudes of public servants to corruption. The sorts of questions boggles. What level of corruption would you agree; a free seat in a sporting event; a overseas holiday, or $2m dollars in a numbered Swiss bank account?
Keep up the good work.
Mark