Australia's Department Of Human Services chief Kathryn Campbell takes 3 month leave of absence -Hiring of China IT consultants requires that her leave be made permanent

by Ganesh Sahathevan

Australia's Commonwealth Department Of Human Services chief Kathryn Campbell  has early this month  taken a  3 month leave of absence. Campbell is in charge of one of the largest departments in the Australian civil service, her role requiring that she have not one but three physical offices to carry out her duties.  Her absence raises questions about whether her poor management, which has had security implications ,has finally led to her jumping,  if not  pushed.

Her responsibilities include management of the massive Human Services IT system which is used to manage dole  , Medicare and other social welfare payments The system is interfaced with that of  at least Immigration ,the Tax Office and probably other government departments.
Ms Campbell has frequently complained that system hardware and software needs updating, even if the issues that plagued the system were often matters of simple programming and management.
Nevertheless, she was given more than a billion Australian dollars to update the system.
Part of her efforts to  update the system included the hiring of foreign consultants ,and these included consultants from China.

Chinese consultants were hired without any apparent concern for security despite the fact that the
Human Services IT system is probably the  most well linked  and data rich system in the country.
Campbell was queried about her hiring of Chinese consultants but did not provide an answer with regards the obvious security issues. Campbell was also asked if the ban on Huawei was considered in her decision to hire Chinese consultants, She chose not to answer.

Campbell's has attempted to make her mark at the DHS as an innovator ,and led the department's IT initiatives, It was however always a case of ambition exceeding ability. Unlike many civil service chiefs, Campbell lacked university qualifications and obtained her basic degree from what was then the Toowoomba CAE. Meanwhile the country bears the burden for yet another case of civil service incompetence.

END

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