00:01He said he essentially ended up being surplus to requirements to the Royal Commission because
00:07of the change of the parameters.
00:10Now Dennis Richardson is a former ASIO chief, he's the former Secretary of the Defence Department
00:15and the Prime Minister picked him to do initially a review into security agencies, ASIO, AFP,
00:23to look at the lead up to what happened in Bondi on December the 14th and whether there
00:30were any failings by security agencies which led to what happened.
00:36Dennis Richardson was the best person to do that according to the Prime Minister.
00:41He has now resigned from the Royal Commission, a statement from the Royal Commission last
00:47night thanked him for his work, said he wouldn't be continuing.
00:49This morning he has told the ABC that he felt he was surplus to requirements, that he felt
00:56like a glorified research officer.
00:58And that is because once the review that he was doing was rolled into the newly announced
01:03Royal Commission, the legal parameters around some of his work changed and he felt like he
01:09wasn't able to do the same job essentially that he thought he initially might be able
01:13to do.
01:13He's described the entire situation as a bit of an embarrassment for him, for the government,
01:19government.
01:19And he also says that he ended up not being paid what he thought he should have been.
01:24Have a listen.
01:25And ultimately I came to assume that I was surplus to requirements.
01:30Quite frankly, what I was being paid wasn't consistent with the work I was doing.
01:37Now, to be clear, he's saying he thought he was being paid too much.
01:42He wasn't able to do the job he thought he was doing and it shows, the figures show that
01:46he was able to be paid up to $5,000 a day for that job.
01:50The government response has been limited.
01:53There's been an acknowledgement from the Attorney General, Michelle Rowland, saying that she recognises
01:59his work.
02:00She thanks him for his work, but that the Royal Commission is independent.
02:03There's been criticism, however, from the Shadow Attorney General, Michaelia Cash.
02:08She's told the ABC this morning that it's an indictment on the government, that someone
02:13that they appointed as the best person for the job now feels that he is surplus to requirements.
02:18It's an indictment on the other hand, but it's pretty important.
02:20I'm sitting here with the other fervor that she's in the office.
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