25/03/2026
The NACC has released its report into Operation Myrtleford, which investigated six individuals that were referred to the NACC by the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme.
The NACC’s investigation was confined to specific events in 2015, 2017 and 2018 and determining whether the conduct of any of the six referred people constituted serious corrupt conduct within the meaning of the National Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2022 (NACC Act).
Findings
The NACC found that two of the referred individuals engaged in corrupt conduct of a serious nature. The remaining four individuals, including former Prime Minister Scott Morrison, had no findings of corrupt conduct made against them.
The first individual that had a finding of corrupt conduct was the General Manager, Business Integrity at the Department of Human Services at the relevant time and who was directly involved in and one of the people principally responsible for the conception and development of the Robodebt Scheme. The NACC concluded that they engaged in deliberate conduct designed to mislead the Department of Social Services (DSS) by misrepresenting to senior DSS officials the involvement of automatic default averaging of fortnightly income to calculate debt in the Robodebt policy proposal.
The second with a finding, was the Deputy Secretary, Social Security at the Department of Social Services. They had responsibility for overseeing policy and management of social security payments and welfare reform across the social security system. The allegations against them were that they misled the Ombudsman in early 2017 by not disclosing legal advice received by DSS in 2014 or suggesting that there were doubts as to the legality of the scheme. The NACC found that they intentionally withheld the 2014 DSS Legal Advice from the DSS response to the Ombudsman’s request for “copies of any legal advice DSS had received about averaging income for social security overpayment calculations”. Further, when the 2014 Legal Advice was eventually provided, upon specific request from the Ombudsman, they intentionally allowed several misrepresentations, which they knew to be false, to be sent to the Ombudsman regarding the basis on which the 2014 Legal Advice was sought and its relevance to the Robodebt Scheme that was implemented.
Recommendations and Outcomes
Although the NACC did find that two individuals engaged in corrupt conduct, they did not refer the matters to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions due to a lack of admissible evidence to establish the offences beyond reasonable doubt.
The NACC also did not make any Recommendations and stated that the Recommendations of the Royal Commission were sufficient to prevent the recurrence of the corrupt conduct found in the investigation, particularly the recommendations around requirements to obtain independent legal advice and how responses to the Ombudsman should be managed by departments.
Lessons for Government Departments
The NACC report into Operation Myrtleford explored how and why the serious corrupt conduct occurred and highlighted some lessons that government departments and APS employees should consider moving forward:
- It is important to ensure that government departments do not assume that the way things have always been done is in line with legislative obligations. The NACC found that ignorance of the law was a major contributing factor to the Robodebt Scheme being implemented the way it was and the corrupt conduct that led to it. In particular, it was suggested that seeking independent legal advice prior to any budget measure would likely have avoided implementation of the Scheme in that form.
- It is important to cultivate an environment where staff feel supported and comfortable speaking up. It was found that the conduct of particular managers led to a fear of reprisal that contributed to findings of corrupt conduct.
If you are concerned about complying with legal requirements, contact our Government Team who specialise in providing advice to government clients on their legislative obligations.