Those trapped in robodebt’s fire will carry mental scars for years

Much media reporting relating to Kathryn Campbell, the secretary of the Department of Human Services during the robodebt fiasco, has been careless and incomplete.

First, her well-paid position in the Department of Defence, to which she was appointed after the election of the ALP government, has been routinely portrayed as a cosy stitch-up cooked up by the secretary of PM&C and Defence along with the public service commissioner.

This account overlooks the crucial fact that the new Labor government entered office committed to continuing the employment of all incumbent secretaries.