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”.