A senior lawyer at the heart of the disastrous and deadly Robodebt scheme resigns after questions are raised as to why she kept her Commonwealth job while contracted with another legal firm.
Former chief counsel of the Department of Human Services, Annette Musolino , has resigned after the ABC put questions to the government about her external work.
Her departure comes nearly 12 months after she was harshly criticised in a report by the Robodebt royal commission. The former secretary of the DHS, Kathryn Campbell, was suspended from her $900,000-a-year job with the Defence Department because of the royal commission, and then resigned soon afterwards.
The report also criticised Ms Musolino for withholding information from the Commonwealth Ombudsman, who was investigating the legality of the scheme, and for minimising doubts over the scheme's legality to protect her own position within the department. "When allegations were made that Ms Musilino may have been moonlighting, the minister asked Services Australia to investigate immediately. Ms Musilino subsequently resigned," a spokeswoman for Mr Shorten said.
"They betrayed the trust of the nation and its citizens for four and a half years with an unlawful scheme which the Federal Court has called the worst chapter of public administration," he said.
Abc Investigations Robodebt Annette Musolino Department Of Human Services Catherine Holmes Royal Commission
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