The refusal to release the Pezzullo investigation report highlights a culture of secrecy across the public service and government.

For those who do not know or who have forgotten, Mike Pezzullo was an officer of the Department of Defence who in 2017 ascended to be the Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs.

Some think Pezzullo may have been influential in the establishment of the Home Affairs portfolio. If so, that’s not exactly a feather in his cap as the structure of the organisation is irrational and so it has been a source of constant failure and political embarrassment.

Pezzullo’s rule in Home Affairs ended on 27 November 2023 after masses of communications he’d had with Scott Briggs (described as a Liberal Party “power broker” of all things) were leaked to the media. These communications were so remarkably indiscreet and inappropriate, that Lynelle Briggs, a former Public Service Commissioner, was engaged to investigate. As a consequence of her report, Pezzullo was dismissed for 14 disciplinary offences. Now just about all traces of him have been expunged from the Home Affairs website including his many speeches and orations most of which were famous for their pretension and hilarity. It’s a shame.

In the post Home Affairs phase of his career, Pezzullo has become a pundit with the Murdoch press recently writing that a “key question” for the Bell Royal Commission on the Bondi atrocities should be whether the temporary removal of ASIO from the Home Affairs portfolio after the 2022 federal........

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