Roman Quaedvlieg has been axed from his position as Australian Border Force commissioner over misconduct allegations, including claims he kept his girlfriend secret and modified internal policies to get her a job.
Following a disciplinary investigation spanning nine months, the government confirmed that Governor General Peter Cosgrove had sacked Quaedvlieg, issuing a lengthy statement that cites a number of reasons for his senior public servant’s dismissal.
The border force, which is part of the Department of Home Affairs run by Peter Dutton, is responsible for offshore and onshore border control, including customs, visa and citizenship issues, overseeing international mail and cargo, immigration detention centres, shipping terminals and international airports, and protecting Australia’s maritime exclusive economic zone.
Quaedvlieg, who reportedly earned $618,000 a year in his position, went on leave last year due to the external probe, with several reports claiming at the time the investigation was looking into allegations he had helped a member of staff he was in a secret relationship with get a job at Sydney Airport. He has always denied the allegations.
Now, the statement has confirmed he was dismissed over “misbehaviour”, stating he had made a “significant change in his personal life” and made a “wilfully or recklessly false statement” about his relationship status to the immigration minister. While it didn’t name names, it also described the incident as “extremely unfortunate” given Quaedvlieg’s “long and conspicuous public service”.
According to the Guardian, Quaedvlieg has maintained his innocence following his sacking, and said in a statement he had made ‘‘observations’’ about the inquiry process and would ‘‘pursue these more formally in the relevant forums’’.
“I have consistently maintained my strong denial of those particularised grounds over the lengthy duration of this inquiry, and I continue to maintain those denials,” he said. “I had been given a short opportunity to resign prior to termination, however I chose not to do that as it is tantamount to a concession of culpability, which I strenuously deny.”
The Courier Mail reported that Quaedvlieg exchanged around 14,000 texts with his secret girlfriend, who staff allegedly believed was his goddaughter.
He has since released a statement, addressing the claims and said: “Most senior public servants use messaging applications as an essential component of their job. I personally send and receive tens of thousands of messages across various platforms over any given year as part of my official duties.”
According to the ABC, the statement went on: “Officials are also entitled to use their official devices for reasonable private use in recognition that their public lives often consume significant portions of their time and they, like most people, have a need or want to communicate with loved ones, or to conduct minor private household transactions while engaged in work duties.”
Now, the union representing border force staff has welcomed the decision, and Community and Public Sector Union National Secretary Nadine Flood told 2GB Radio it was unfair on staff members if they had to watch senior staffers abusing highly paid positions.
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“It’s been increasingly frustrating for thousands of border force staff we represent,” she explained. “They see a senior official being paid a very high salary for many, many months after highly questionable conduct, while some of them are working there on $50,000 a year and if they did something like this they’d be stood down without pay. It’s a real double-standard.”
It comes after former deputy PM Barnaby Joyce resigned from his position after it was revealed he was expecting a baby with a former staffer with whom he had an affair.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called off an investigation into whether the then-Nationals leader had broken ministerial conduct rules following Joyce’s resignation, but the MP now faces a second investigation into his and his new partner Vikki Campion’s travel and accommodation claims.
Joyce has denied any wrongdoing and says he doubts the investigation will produce anything of interest.
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