Power player
Investigation

Power player

The Age,The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes reveal a cache of messages Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo sent to a Liberal powerbroker in a bid to promote conservatives,oust enemies and revamp the national security regime.

6stories
Mike Pezzullo has stood aside as secretary of the Department of Home Affairs.

Inquiry to examine key decisions by Pezzullo after secret texts with powerbroker revealed

The Home Affairs boss has stood aside while investigators look into whether he flouted the public service code of conduct or shared inside information improperly.

  • byDavid Crowe andMatthew Knott
Martin Parkinson
Exclusive

‘Honoured to serve’:Home Affairs chief’s years-long push to become public service head revealed

A barrage of messages Michael Pezzullo sent to a Liberal powerbroker reveals his drive to oust leading public servants and become Australia’s most senior bureaucrat.

  • byMichael Bachelard andNick McKenzie
Former prime ministers Robert Menzies and Paul Keating,and Home Affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo.
Analysis

Mike Pezzullo and the secret D Notice:A short history

The powerful public servant suggested in 2019 a return to the D Notice to suppress press freedom. But what is a D Notice?

  • byTony Wright
Advertisement
Senior journalist Annika Smethurst’s house was raided by police.
Exclusive

‘Modern version of the D Notice’:How the Home Affairs boss tried to stifle press freedom

Michael Pezzullo pushed for the power to censor the media’s reporting of some national security issues after controversial raids on Australian journalists.

  • byMichael Bachelard andNick McKenzie
Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo.
Exclusive

Five years. A thousand messages. How a top public servant tried to influence governments

Our reporters have uncovered a cache of messages,sent by Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo to a Liberal powerbroker,where he tried to protect his allies and denigrate his enemies.

  • byNick McKenzie,Michael Bachelard andAmelia Ballinger
Opinion

No minister,Labor or Liberal,will ever be able to trust Pezzullo again

Mike Pezzullo’s candid exchanges with Scott Briggs cannot be dismissed as a kind of political locker-room talk that means nothing.

  • byGeorge Brandis