The head of the home affairs department, Michael Pezzullo, has stood aside pending an “expedited” investigation after a series of leaked texts called into question whether he made partisan interventions under the Coalition governments.
The Age and 60 Minutes first revealed the series of texts between Pezzullo and Liberal powerbroker, Scott Briggs, in which the home affairs secretary disparaged senior Coalition ministers and advocated for a right winger to be minister responsible for his department.
