Former Department of Home Affairs Chief of Staff Stephanie Kolobaric was found by the National Anti-Corruption Commission to have “engaged in corrupt conduct by abusing her office and by misusing official information” which was detailed in the NACC’s Operation Kingscliff Report.
But the Operation Kingscliff Report, which was published on the 30th of June 2025, gave Stephanie Kolobaric, her sister and her sister’s fiancé pseudonyms in the report so they could not be identified by the media or public.
And the report made no mention of the “Chief of Staff” and instead said “Senior Executive Service officer in the Department of Home Affairs”.
Then about a month ago it was revealed at a Senate Estimates hearing that the person in question was the Chief of Staff to Department of Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster when the corruption allegation was made, although they did not name the Chief of Staff.
The Operation Kingscliff / Chief of Staff issue was raised again in Senate Estimates hearings this week which also exposed a powerful prima facie case of a cover-up by Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster and NACC Commissioner Paul Brereton.
Stephanie Foster and Stephanie Kolobaric
I posted a message on social media on Wednesday 3/12/25 which said:
Does anyone know who “Joanne Simeson” is? That is the pseudonym the NACC gave Home Affair’s Secretary Stephanie Foster’s former Chief of Staff when they made a corruption finding against her in the Operation Kingscliff report. No, it’s not a crime to name her. (Click here to see on “X”)
I received the tip, “My understanding, going by the relevant org charts: Stephanie Kolobaric and sister Natalie Kolobaric”. I then did some research and found the fiancé was Jay McLinden.
Stephanie Kolobaric shows up in a government senate estimates Home Affairs organisational chart document, on the top right, on the government’s website as the Chief of Staff as of the 12th of February 2024 as below. (Click here to see the full chart)
I then sent the below email to the NACC media team which I also posted to the NACC on “X”. (Click here to see on “X”)
From: SHANE DOWLING
Sent: Wednesday, 3 December 2025 11:19 PM
To: xxxxx@nacc.gov.au
Subject: Operation Kingscliff – Real names
Dear Sir/Madam
I am an independent journalist and have a few questions regarding Operation Kingscliff.
In the published case study on the NACC’s website for Operation Kingscliff it says:
Operation Kingscliff was an investigation into whether a Senior Executive Service (SES) officer in the Department of Home Affairs (Home Affairs) improperly used her position to influence employment processes for the benefit of her sister and her sister’s fiancé.
The Commission found the official engaged in corrupt conduct by abusing her office and by misusing official information.
The report used pseudonyms and said: “Joanne* was an SES Band 1 officer in Home Affairs. Her sister, Melissa*, and Melissa’s fiancé, Mark*, were employed by other Australian government agencies.”
Questions:
- Can you confirm that “Joanne” is Stephanie Kolobaric who was the former Chief of Staff to Department of Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster?
- Can you confirm that “Her sister, Melissa” is Natalie Kolobaric?
- Can you confirm that “Melissa’s fiancé, Mark” is Jay McLinden?
- Can you advise how many times the Department of Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster has spoken to NACC Commissioner Paul Brereton on the phone about Stephanie Kolobaric and/or Operation Kingscliff?
Please respond by 5pm Thursday the 4th of December 2025 so I can publish and in case I have further questions.
Regards
Shane Dowling
The NACC has not responded which I take as confirmation that Stephanie Kolobaric, Natalie Kolobaric and Jay McLinden were the people in the report.
The NACC could have tried legal action to stop this article, but the reality is the horse had already bolted when the senate named the person’s position as being the former “Chief of Staff” to Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster.
Canberra has a large number of federal public servants who gossip and spread rumours faster than a speeding bullet and many would have known who it was when Operation Kingscliff was published in June.
Anyone in Canberra who didn’t know would have known once the Senate said it was the former “Chief of Staff” at Home Affairs.
The basic allegations in the NACC’s media release for Operation Kingscliff were:
The Commission found the official had engaged in corrupt conduct by abusing her office to give her sister and her sister’s fiancé an improper benefit, and by misusing official information.
A key element of the investigation was the transfer of the sister’s fiancé to Home Affairs under section 26 of the Public Service Act 1999.
The official’s involvement in the transfer included her promoting her sister’s fiancé as a candidate for a position in Home Affairs, praising him to colleagues, creating the job requisition, approving it herself and forging a witness signature on paperwork to fast-track onboarding, all the while deliberately concealing the family relationship from others. At no point did she disclose the relationship.
In a separate employment process, the official provided interview questions to her sister in advance.
The Commission found the conduct was serious because of the seniority of the public official, the deception involved and the significant benefits of securing a public service role; and systemic because the behaviours were repeated, and because nepotism, cronyism and undeclared conflicts of interest in APS recruitment are an area of widespread concern.
The public official has resigned from the APS. Had she not done so, the Commission would have recommended that her employment be terminated. (Click here to read more)
Prima facie case of a cover-up by Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster and NACC Commissioner Paul Brereton
The investigation into the cover-up is ongoing, but there are 2 issues that are worth raising at this point.
Firstly, Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster and NACC Commissioner Paul Brereton had at least one private phone call discussing the Stephanie Kolobaric corruption investigation yet neither kept notes of the phone call which is a red flag because people in their positions discussing such a serious issue should always keep notes.
And secondly, Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster claims no one in her office told her of the corruption allegations against her then Chief of Staff Stephanie Kolobaric for weeks which is another major red flag as it is just not believable.
In the below video Greens Senator David Shoebridge asks NACC CEO Philip Reed and NACC General Manager Legal Rebekah O’Meagher about the NACC suppressing Stephanie Kolobaric’s name in the Operation Kingscliff Report. (Video is Senate Estimates on the 1/12/25)
In the below video Greens Senator David Shoebridge asks Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster about a phone call she had with NACC Commissioner Paul Brereton about Stephanie Kolobaric and Foster says she didn’t keep notes. (Video was at Senate Estimates on 2/12/25)
As per the above video, Home Affairs staff knew on the 19th of December 2023 about corruption allegations against Stephanie Kolobaric when its Integrity and Professional Standards branch received a referral.
But Secretary Stephanie Foster says she didn’t know until January 2024. The referral to the NACC was made by the Acting Secretary while Foster was on leave.
But the Operation Kingscliff Report says, “On 12 January 2024, the Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs (Home Affairs) made a mandatory referral to the Commissioner”. I don’t think that is a mistake, I think it is part of the cover-up, as why the Acting Secretary had to make the referral to the NACC about the Secretary’s Chief of Staff raises questions.
A guess of what really happened
Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster always knew what happened or found out on the 19th of December 2023, the same day the complaint was made internally at Home Affairs.
Secretary Stephanie Foster likely told Stephanie Kolobaric that she would cover it up. When Foster went on holidays, the Acting Secretary Nathan Smythe made the compliant to the NACC which we know did happen.
When Foster arrived back from holidays, she phoned the NACC Commissioner Paul Brereton, and they decided to do the investigation but suppress Stephanie Kolobaric’s name by using a pseudonym.
It must be remembered that the NACC is there to cover-up corruption, not expose it.
So, by suppressing Stephanie Kolobaric’s name, Foster and Commissioner Brereton were telling all public servants not to worry if you act corruptly because if you get caught, we will suppress your name, and nothing will happen except you might have to get another job.
I wonder if Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster gave Stephanie Kolobaric a reference for her new job.
This article will filter through Canberra’s public service because they will realise if they are exposed acting corruptly the government and the NACC won’t be able to protect them anymore.
And given this article, the NACC are going to have to review their tactic of using pseudonyms to protect corrupt public servants and others.
NACC and the Inspector of the NACC are back before the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the National Anti-Corruption Commission on Thursday (11-12-25) for a review of their annual reports which should be live streamed on YouTube here starting at 9am Canberra time.
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Categories: National Anti-Corruption Commission
So was the not very deceptive “Sly Stephanie”, still doing her not so sly winks for everyone to see and be actually filmed doing so, in these hearings, as she did previously?
I have published a video version (Podcast) of the above article on the Kangaroo Court of Australia YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/BG2n_euzPeU
Look , At 73 yrs of experience, I am not in the slightest surprised to find another government figure is corrupt and criminal, because that is the unwavering history of our unfortunate prison colony where the only decent Prime Minister was removed by the unholy collusion of the CIA and English monarchy.
The effects of two hundred years of criminal control are obvious to all, especially in regards to the astronomical value of exports and the poverty of the majority, now unable to afford a home anymore.
And the Corruption flows onward.
An end is coming – I can smell it- there will be trials.
Token corruption finding to throw something to the wolves and keep them at bay. As if nobody knows that everyone in 2PP does this. Obviously it’s not right but this is the best they could come up with? Laughable. How many investigations have been undertaken now, over 160 with not one negative result yet?
I am still amazed they shoved the protracted and probably never-ending Robodebt RC recommendation investigation to the side the minute that Linda Reynolds lodged her vexatious ‘complaint’ regarding Brittany Higgins’ commonwealth payout. Suddenly they immediately had plenty of time available time to comb through 2000 documents and find nothing amiss (possibly the only actual good thing they’ve done in 2 years).
Forever seared into my memory will be Reynolds’ ‘victory’ speech outside the court saying it wasn’t anything personal. Yes it was, case in point.
This whole thing would be a three act opera if it were at all dramatic enough to be interesting but it’s not. The NACC is just an extended farce.
The APS is a corrupt body at the top. You won’t meet more nasty, sadistic people only interested in their own interests protected by a layer of executive mandarins indoctrinated to protect their bosses and Boards.
From previous Estimates,Stephanie Foster is a prodigious note taker. Something really stinks here. The politicians we can vote out but the senior public servant parasites’ snouts just go deeper into the trough.
Jeezuz H.! HTF do these people, especially the pollies from the Party of which I’m a Member, do this to us, the ordinary, everyday, “little” people they make such a song-and-dance about “representing”?
Dinki-di, fair dinkum representatives of the “Working Class”, my fat arse! Ben Chifley’s dream, his vision of “The Light on The Hill” has been, well and truly, extinguished by these pretentious, opportunistic, humbug, faux “Labor” pollies and their snivelling, grovelling, equally opportunistic boondogglers! A pox on them, their rotten houses and all who dwell in them, I say! I despise them for what they truly represent and their betrayal of those who place their trust in them and still believe in “the common touch”, which this mob have never heard of and even less likely, understand the meaning of the phrase!!