Secret efforts by a senior bureaucrat to build his power while reshaping Coalition governments and Australia’s national security regime illustrate the shrinking influence of the Westminster system.
The politicisation of the Australian public service is grudgingly accepted, but the secret effort of the secretary of the Department of Home Affairs, Michael Pezzullo, to build his power while reshaping successive Coalition governments and Australia’s national security regime is proof of the shrinking influence of the Westminster system and rules in Canberra.
We do not suggest any of the exchanges are corrupt or illegal, only that they were inappropriate for a senior public servant. Pezzullo used the largely untraceable encrypted messaging apps WhatsApp and Signal for exchanges with Scott Briggs, a lobbyist, businessman and former vice president of the NSW Liberals, and repeatedly claimed he was apolitical and a neutral servant of the government of the day.
A career public servant since 1987, Pezzullo worked for federal departments and Hawke government ministers, and had a stint as Labor leader Kim Beazley’s deputy chief of staff, before rejoining the public service with customs and border protection, overseeing Operation Sovereign Borders. Prime minister Tony Abbott appointed him head of immigration and border protection in 2014.
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