Australian soldiers who murdered 39 Afghans in cold blood.

The politicians and senior civil servants who misled the Cabinet about the legality of robo-debt, a project that would bring misery to tens of thousands of people and lead to the suicide of at least three people, according to a later royal commission.

The politicians responsible for 40% of women working in Parliament report sexual harassment or sexual assault.

The political staff member who raped a woman in a minister’s office and the politicians and staff who tried to cover this up.

Tax advisors who abused the trust of plan tax evasion.

The bureaucrats who bought a plot of land from a political donor for ten times its value.

The ministers who planned grant programs has distribute money to targeted seats and the senior officials who tried to cover it up or push it through.

The bureaucrat who gifts requested from a Defense contractorthen accepted a job at the same company.

What do these soldiers, politicians, civil servants, political employees and entrepreneurs have in common? They all got away with it.

Murder. Driving people to suicide. Rape and sexual predation. Routing taxpayers. Misconduct. Without anyone punished and without bureaucratic investigations that have dragged on for so long, the chances of successful prosecutions are zero, or a so-called anti-corruption body dismisses the case.

Australia has a serious problem with people in federal public offices – which include civil servants, the ADF and people engaged by governments as consultants, political staffers and politicians – who abuse these positions and profit from power that these functions confer on them to derive their own benefit. , or their group, or their friends. From embezzlement of taxpayers’ money to murder and war crimes, no one is ever held accountable.

So far, only one soldier has been prosecuted for war crimes committed by Australian soldiers. The agency responsible for prosecuting war crimes has moved at a snail’s pace and admits that time is running out.

The failed conviction of rapist Bruce Lehrmann is well known.

The PwC partner at the center of that firm’s shocking abuse of confidential tax information to plan tax avoidance schemes, Peter John Collins, has received nothing more than an ASIC ban from providing financial services – for eight years (he wasn’t even is the subject of an investigation by its own industry body).

The so-called National Anti-Corruption Commission remarkably refused to investigate the case of a Defense official who requested a gift from Thales (before joining the company) while working under contract with the company, instead leaving it to the Ministry of Defense to “investigate” – as one would expect, he found no problem.

Then there is robo-debt, described by royal commissioner Catherine Holmes as an example of “venality, incompetence and cowardice”, in which Scott Morrison allowed the cabinet to be misled (while trying to mislead the commission), said senior bureaucrat Kathryn Campbell. The system was found to have done nothing despite knowing the system was illegal, and that Alan Tudge had abused his position by using the personal information of social security recipients in the media. Holmes concluded that “elements of the tort of misconduct in public office appear to exist.” contradicting the previous conclusion from the judge who initially ruled that the scheme was illegal, and prepare the ground so that victims of robo-debt can sue for damages.

Despite this, so far no one has been sued for robo debt. The National Anti-Corruption Commission refused to investigate the robo-debt even though the scandal clearly fell within its jurisdiction. The Australian Public Service Commission’s efforts to investigate bureaucrats complicit in the scandal and still part of the APS took place in almost total secrecy; the others have not been subject to any sanction – for the moment – ​​for their misconduct. The status of any prosecution is lost in the black box that is the Australian Commonwealth and Federal Police (CDPP) Director of Public Prosecutions process.

This failure is not a recent development either. In response to what appears to have been an open and shut case of document falsification by someone in the office of then federal minister Angus Taylor, the Australian Federal Police conducted a brief non-inquiry investigation before announcing that there was nothing to do.

In relation to an even more egregious case of leaking of confidential information by a political staffer in the office of then-minister Michaelia Cash, the AFP actually conducted an investigation – an investigation which the AFP said Cash refused to cooperate — only so that the CDPP decide not to charge anyone (Curiously, the CDPP had no problem pursuing politically motivated charges against Bernard Collaery and Witness K at the instigation of the Liberal Party when it was in government).

The repeated examples of public officials, from ministers to junior civil servants and ADF personnel, abusing their power and position without consequence send a strong signal to the politicians, bureaucrats and soldiers who come after them: it is almost impossible to suffer consequences, beyond perhaps mild embarrassment if such abuses are brought to public attention, even for the most egregious and appalling misconduct. If murder, rape, sexual predation and the suicide of innocent people are not prosecuted, what are the chances that more everyday crimes like embezzlement of taxpayers’ money and leaks will be possible?

It also sends a signal to the electorate that the system of public administration does not work in favor of the public, but in favor of those who can exploit their position most effectively. True responsibility is a lie commonly accepted by all those in power.

Tomorrow: Abuse of power, the crime that dares not speak its name.

Did we miss something? What is the most egregious abuse of an Australian public service that you can remember? Let us know your thoughts by emailing [email protected]. Please include your full name for your post to be considered. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.