Michael Pezzullo confirms he has been stripped of the honor of the Order of Australia – Capital Brief

The news: Former Home Secretary Michael Pezzullo has confirmed the honor of the Order of Australia has been stripped by the Governor-General.

The context: Pezzullo was fired last November after an independent investigation found he breached the code of conduct with more than 1,000 text messages he sent to former Liberal Party leader Scott Briggs.

He was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia in the 2020 Queens Birthday Honors for his outstanding services to public administration through leadership roles in national security, border control and immigration.

A process has been underway for months to strip Pezzullo’s AO, which can happen if an individual has behaved or acted in a way that the governor general believes has brought the order into disrepute.

In a statement to Capital Brief, Pezzullo said the people who made the decision “presumably believe it is a just and fair decision,” but that the nation needed to focus on “much more pressing and serious matters.”

What they said: “With wars going on all over the world, and more likely to break out, possibly in the Pacific, with increasing intolerance and anger in public debate, with many people struggling to make ends meet, and many more problems , being stripped of my official honors does not amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world,” Pezzullo said.

“Those who recommend and make these decisions presumably believe it is a just and fair decision.

“As a nation, we urgently need to focus on much more pressing and serious matters.

“Regardless, over the past 37 years I have been blessed to work with and ultimately lead so many patriotic, talented and largely unknown Australians who work day and night to keep us safe. That was honor enough for me. “