Senior public official Kathryn Campbell has been suspended without pay following the release of the robodebt royal commission report.

The report concluded that Campbell, former head of the Department of Human Services, was responsible for overseeing “an unlawful program” that utilised income averaging to calculate welfare debts. 

Despite being presented with evidence of its illegality, she failed to take meaningful action or seek legal advice.

In 2022, the Albanese government quietly appointed Ms Campbell as a special advisor on the AUKUS nuclear submarine project with a salary package of nearly $900,000 a year.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has now confirmed Campbell's suspension without pay from the AUKUS role, and acknowledged the damning findings against the Morrison government and the bureaucracy.

Former DHS chief counsel Annette Musolino, implicated in the report for providing defective legal advice, has vanished from the department's organisational chart. On leave at present, her actions during the robodebt debacle are under scrutiny.

Additionally, reports say that former Prime Minister Scott Morrison's legal bills will be covered by taxpayers, as the Attorney-General approved funding for him to respond to potential findings against him in the robodebt royal commission.

Legal costs for other former ministers have already reached more than $2.5 million, and victims may now seek compensation from individuals involved in the scandal.

With legal consequences on the horizon, public servants and former ministers may soon face a reckoning for their roles in the ill-fated program.