Home affairs department paid $16,000 to rent senior official’s ACT home through Airbnb

The home affairs department paid $16,000 to a senior official to rent his house through Airbnb for staff who needed to quarantine after returning from overseas.

The deal was part of a $522,000 program to accommodate returning staff and comply with Australian Capital Territory Covid quarantine requirements.

In Senate estimates on Monday the Labor senator Raff Ciccone said it was "mind-blowing" the department rented a house from the unnamed first assistant secretary on the basis it was the only suitable property available.

But departmental secretary, Michael Pezzullo, defended the official's conduct as "proper" because he identified the conflict of interest and offered to opt out of the program.

According to officials, the department intended to use accommodation at the Australian National University for quarantine from September 2021, but was advised by ACT Health on 23 August to find alternatives.

The deputy secretary, Justine Saunders, said that the department contacted owners of suitable properties through Airbnb "without knowing who the owners of the properties were".

Only "freestanding houses" were considered suitable under ACT guidelines, Pezzullo said, and there were "no other properties available" that fit the bill, according to Saunders.