Afternoon Update: civil service apologises for robodebt; Musk calls Australian government ‘fascists’; and an Earth-shaking discovery

Australian Public Service commissioner, Gordon de Brouwer has apologised for the role the service played in the unlawful robodebt scheme. Photograph: APSC

Good afternoon. The Australian Public Service commissioner, Gordon de Brouwer, has apologised for the civil service’s role in the unlawful robodebt program, and called the scheme “a failure of government”.

The findings of the APS commission’s robodebt taskforce, released on Friday, found former department heads Kathryn Campbell and Renée Leon were among 12 public servants who breached the code of conduct 97 times during their involvement in the unlawful scheme.