The head of Services Australia, Rebecca Skinner, will leave the giant welfare agency by the end of the month, with minister for government services Bill Shorten announcing her retirement just days after his agency chief issued a public apology to her staff for the actions of previous management in the creation of the robodebt scandal.
Skinner’s sudden departure has left the 28,500-strong organisation unexpectedly casting for a new leader just ahead of a raft of disciplinary sanctions and potential criminal prosecutions being meted over the illegal debt creation scheme that was the subject of a blistering royal commission that found grave shortcomings in the agency.
Skinner took command after the scheme was effectively dead in the water but has spent the better half of her time since March 2020 as Australia’s welfare chief neutralising its fallout in one form or another.
A highly regarded Defence bureaucrat prior to taking the helm at the agency that was reformed from the former Department of Human Services under machinery of government changes, Skinner also has also had to contend with persistent crises generated by massive bushfires, the outbreak of COVID-19 and most recently floods.
While Labor relentlessly attacked the Morrison government over Centrelink’s initial performance as Australia went into lockdown, Shorten paid tribute to Skinner’s leadership performance throughout her time at Services Australia.
“She took on the role as the pandemic took hold of our country. Under her leadership, the agency provided Australians with record support — financially, and by keeping their doors open throughout for those who needed help in person,” Shorten said.
“Since my time in this Ministry, Ms Skinner has led the transition to the new myGov platform and development of the myGov app — important steps forward in the transformation of Australian Government digital services.
“Importantly, Ms Skinner has been instrumental in transforming the agency post-Robodebt. Under her leadership, Services Australia is becoming the customer-centred agency Australians need.”
However, one area of notable struggle has been the massive Welfare Payments Infrastructure Transformation project that just last month had its core entitlements calculation engine scrapped and written off to the tune of $200 million, leaving the most essential part of the project uncompleted.
The timing of Skinner’s swift exit also comes just a day after the Australian Public Service Commission is due to find out whether or not unions have accepted its pay offer, with Services Australia staff the front-running agency for negotiations across the public service.
Services Australia has already been hit with rolling industrial action, with the Community and Public Sector Union having already voted up and escalating to full-day strikes through a protected action ballot.
Shorten said an acting CEO will be appointed in due course and normal processes followed to find a new CEO to continue this important work.
More to come.
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Services Australia chief Rebecca Skinner apologises to staff for robodebt
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