Details of Kathryn Campbell's last pay packet revealed in Department of Defence annual report

The Department of Defence's 2022-23 annual report revealed Ms Campbell earned a total pay packet of $835,970 in the last financial year, inclusive of superannuation.

She was the third-highest paid bureaucrat in the department, after secretary Greg Moriarty and Chief of the Defence Force General Angus Campbell.

Ms Campbell was stood down without pay from her role as a senior AUKUS advisor in July this year, after she was adversely named in the robodebt royal commission report. She resigned from the role later that month.

Findings from the royal commission into the unlawful scheme found the former Human Services and Social Services secretary, on the weight of evidence, gave misleading advice to federal cabinet.

Ms Campbell, who was secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade until July 2022, was moved across into the Defence role after the Albanese government's reshuffle of department heads.

The Canberra Times revealed in July that Prime Minister and Cabinet Department secretary Glyn Davis and former Australian Public Service Commissioner Peter Woolcott discussed moving Ms Campbell into the Defence role, and matching her remuneration of $892,630, shortly before details of her termination as secretary were made public.

The arrangement meant Ms Campbell continued to earn more than her boss, Chief of Nuclear Powered Submarine Task Force Vice Admiral Jonathan Mead, whose remuneration totaled $707,822 in the last financial year.

Defence secretary Greg Moriarty earned a salary of $1,006,474 last financial year, while Chief of the Defence Force General Angus Campbell was paid $1,062,702.

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