The Coalition’s controversial proposal to privatise visa processing will face a parliamentary inquiry after it was revealed that Infosys had 46 meetings with lobbyist Scott Briggs to discuss a bid for the work.
The Joint Committee on Public Accounts and Audit announced the new inquiry on Thursday after Infosys revealed the meetings with Briggs, a Liberal powerbroker, in response to questions at an inquiry into the Synergy 360 procurement controversy.
Briggs is a friend and former staffer of Malcolm Turnbull and was president of Scott Morrison’s constituent conference. Briggs was recently in the news for text messages he exchanged with former Home Affairs Minister Michael Pezzullo. Pezzullo was sacked this week for 14 breaches of the public service code of conduct – including using his power for personal gain.
The Turnbull government was considering outsourcing visa processing functions – potentially a $1 billion tender – which Labor said raised conflict of interest concerns due to the involvement of Pacific Blue Capital, one of only two potential bidders.
In opposition, Labor vowed to scrap the outsourcing plan, but the Morrison government cancelled it in March 2020, months after the Covid crisis.
The inquiry, launched on Thursday, will examine “the multi-phase procurement process initiated by the Department of Home Affairs in 2017 for a new IT workflow system to manage the processing of Australian visa applications”.
Its terms of reference include “the conduct of entities or persons involved in – or interested in – that procurement process”.
Committee chair Julian Hill said: “The previous government wasted $92 million on a failed attempt to privatise visa processing, but after abandoning the tender process, the Department of Home Affairs was still forced to take a $180 million hit from bogus savings that never materialised”.
“The Auditor-General examined some of these issues in a report tabled this year, but further questions that have arisen warrant a stand-alone inquiry,” he said in a statement.
“Parliament and the public should understand what happened in relation to this aborted, wasteful privatisation and what lessons should be learnt, given the critical importance of actually doing something to upgrade the Home Office’s outdated IT systems.”
According to a submission by Infosys to the earlier inquiry, the company began a commercial relationship with Australian Visa Processing (AVP) in April 2018, including working with Briggs, AVP’s managing director, who was also the managing director of Pacific Blue Capital, an investor in AVP, until 2020.
Separately, Infosys engaged DPG Advisory Solutions as a lobbyist on 15 July 2021, at which time Briggs was a partner at DPG.
“Around September 2018, AVP selected Infosys as a subcontractor as part of its response to the Home Office tender for the design and build of a global digital visa processing platform,” Infosys said in its submission.
In October 2020, the department issued a new tender for the digitalisation of visa processing, to which AVP submitted a bid, but was unsuccessful.
Infosys’ submission includes details of 46 meetings with Briggs, 39 of which were attended by David Milo, the owner of Synergy 360.
The Public Accounts Committee is investigating possible “tainted contracts” following allegations that former Coalition MP Stuart Robert helped lobbying firm Synergy 360 and its client Infosys win government work. In June, the Public Accounts Committee heard that Infosys had paid $16 million to Synergy 360.
Robert has denied any wrongdoing, saying he has “never been part owner of any company that has ever received anything from Synergy 360”.
In September, the Public Accounts Committee recommended that the National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nacc) investigate the Synergy 360 procurement controversy, saying it had received “disturbing evidence … raising serious allegations and questions about financial impropriety, improper relationships and undisclosed conflicts of interest” with parties receiving government contracts.
“In making this recommendation, the committee is not making any findings in relation to the conduct of any individual,” it said.
In February 2020, Guardian Australia revealed that the Liberal Party had deleted records of a $165,000 donation from a company run by Briggs, Southern Strategy, and refused to say why the donation, which it said was an error, had been recorded.
“That’s a matter for the Liberal Party,” Briggs said at the time. “All I can confirm is that Southern Strategy has not made any donations to the Liberal Party.”
