In April 2026, Nick Feik, Michelle Fahy and Elizabeth Minter published the results of their investigation into the National Anti-Corruption Commission in The Point.* and find that the NACC’s three current deputy commissioners as a group represent the least qualified combination of deputies permitted under the NACC Act. For example, Deputy Commissioner Nicole Rose, the delegated decision maker who decided not to investigate the Robodebt Six, has a diploma of hotel management as her highest academic qualification.
Rose was handed two CEO roles, at AUSTRAC and CrimTrac, by the Liberals’ then Justice Minister Michael Keenan, ahead of vastly more experienced candidates, including a judge, barristers, and a former police commissioner.
Deputy Commissioner Gauntlett, meanwhile, was handpicked by Scott Morrison’s Coalition Government as Disability Discrimination Commissioner, a move that was condemned by numerous human rights legal experts at the time for not being an open merit-based selection process as required.
In February 2020, the Daily Telegraph published an investigation by senior reporter Natalie O’Brien into Rose’s AUSTRAC appointment, revealing “the meteoric rise of a woman with limited police experience to the top of Australia’s financial crimes watchdog ahead of candidates with decades of law enforcement and legal experience”.
Based on Freedom of Information (FOI) documents solicited over months (and still available), the article describes how Rose “was parachuted into the job running the $75 million agency in a ‘unique’ behind-the-scenes deal” in 2017.
There were 22 candidates for the position: “eleven had law enforcement backgrounds including a Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner, and one was a judge”. Rose, who was then on a secondment to the Attorney-General’s Department, was listed in the job advertisement as the contact person for inquiries about the application process. She was also on the four-person panel that interviewed the seven shortlisted candidates.
The panel recommended three candidates as “highly suitable” for the role.
Yet, two months after the interviews, Minister Keenan bypassed the process and appointed Rose CEO on the grounds that she was an “eminent person”.
The Daily Telegraph described the appointment as “a back room deal”, in part because the FOI documents provide no explanation as to how or why this decision was made.
The Point approached the NACC for a response to the Daily Telegraph’s account, including whether Commissioner Brereton or Deputy Commissioner Rose contested any of the facts relayed about Rose’s AUSTRAC appointment (noting that the account remained on the public record).
The NACC replied, “Deputy Commissioner Rose was appointed as a Deputy Commissioner … following a rigorous merit-based selection and vetting process managed by the Attorney-General’s Department.”
But there is more. Much more. Read their report in full.
*The Point, an initiative of the Australia Institute, states that it takes a bipartisan approach to research, but it has been described as “progressive” or “left-leaning”.
The current Acting Commissioner of NACC Kylie Kilgour did a radio interview in March 2023 where she discussed IBAC’s oversight of Victoria Police. Her focus was on IBAC’s recommendations to the then Chief Commissioner Shane Patton on matters such as: officers who were perpetrators of family violence, officers who had mistreated a disabled person, officers who had made homophobic comments on social media platforms: https://joy.org.au/saturdaymagazine/2023/03/saturday-18th-march-kylie-kilgore-deputy-commissioner-ibac/
I don’t think there was any commentary in relation to the establishment in December 2021 of the Victorian Office of the Special Investigator (OSI)—led by former High Court Justice Geoffrey Nettle to probe the “Lawyer X” police informant scandal. Extract from ABC story June 2023: “In a combative — at times angry — report tabled in state parliament Wednesday, Justice Nettle revealed that the Office of the Special Investigator (OSI) had submitted what it believed to be substantial evidence of criminal conduct by a number of people involved in the saga, but that DPP Kerri Judd had decided there was no reasonable prospect of conviction”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-21/lawyer-x-gobbo-investigator-nettle-criticises-prosecutor-judd/102504738
According to information at the Joy radio link above, in “2019 and 2020 Kylie was the CEO of the Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants. From 2006 to 2018 she worked at the Department of Justice and Community Safety on a wide range of justice reform projects in relation to the legal profession, civil justice, court programs, family violence and the criminal justice system. Prior to joining the Victorian public service, Kylie worked in community legal centres in NSW and legal aid in the UK…”
It appears that on 31st October 2017 Ms Kilgour, as a Deputy Secretary, gave a presentation by the Victorian Dept of Justice and Regulation which outlined some of the new reforms brought about by Gillard’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, including:
“On 1 July 2015, the Victorian Government removed the limitation periods that applied to civil claims founded upon child sexual or physical abuse by introducing the Limitation of Actions Amendment (Child Abuse) Act 2015. • This means that time limits do not apply to a victim of child abuse and they can bring a civil action in court. • Victoria was the first jurisdiction to implement this reform. • The Royal Commission agreed that limitation period laws are a barrier for survivors of child sexual abuse crimes in seeking compensation through civil litigation. The Royal Commission recommended that limitation periods should be removed in all jurisdictions….
…and the Redress Scheme
” On 4 November 2016, the Commonwealth Government announced that it will establish a national redress scheme for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse – States and NGOs can ‘opt in’ to the scheme. • The Victorian Government is working with the Commonwealth Government on the design of the national redress scheme. • On 9 May 2017, the Commonwealth announced $33.4 million in funding to establish a national redress scheme and provide ongoing support to survivors”
The Redress Scheme was set up for compensation for victims of sexual abuse but victims advocate groups like Care Leavers Australasia Network (CLAN), recommended that compensation should also be given for physical and emotional abuse. It seems that a scheme for up to $20,000 for physical/emotional/psychological/neglect abuse is now operating in Victoria: https://services.dffh.vic.gov.au/redress
As per an ABC Report in February 2025, there have been issues with fraudulent claims in various Redress Schemes, with one NSW police officer stating that: ‘This is just the tip of the iceberg’: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-13/nsw-police-child-sexual-abuse-alleged-fraud-claims-seven-charged/104932648