Nacc to investigate six referrals made by robodebt royal commission | Centrelink debt recovery

The National Anti-Corruption Commission has announced it will investigate the six individuals referred to the body after the robodebt royal commission following an independent review.

On Tuesday, the anti-corruption watchdog released a statement confirming the six referrals would be investigated to “determine whether or not any of the six referred persons engaged in corrupt conduct”.

The independent reviewer, Geoffrey Nettle AC KC, made a decision earlier this month, the Nacc said, adding it would not divulge its reasons for relaunching the investigations.

The Nacc said: “The commission is now making arrangements to ensure the impartial and fair investigation of the referrals, as it did with the appointment of Mr Nettle as independent reconsideration delegate. The commissioner and those deputy commissioners who were involved in the original decision not to investigate the referrals, will not participate in the investigation.”

In June 2024 the Nacc declared it would not pursue an investigation into six individuals referred by the robodebt royal commission, due to separate public service investigations being carried out into five of them.

Nacc’s own watchdog, Nacc inspector Gail Furness, then released a report in October finding that the Nacc commissioner, Paul Brereton, was “affected by apprehended bias” and should have “removed himself from related decision-making processes and limited his exposure to the relevant factual information”. Furness also said there was “no intentional wrongdoing”.

Following the report’s release, the Nacc had announced it would engage an “independent eminent person” to reconsider whether the referrals should be investigated.

More details soon …