Mike Pezzullo has been sacked as Home Affairs secretary after a code of conduct breach finding.
He was stood down following a text message scandal, with leaked messages revealing the secretary repeatedly lobbied for his department and pushed his personal views in breach of public service standards, over a five-year period.
A statement issued by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's office said this action was based on a recommendation made following an independent inquiry.
Mr Pezullo is said to have fully cooperated with the he inquiry, led by Lynelle Briggs, which found Mr Pezullo breached of the Australian Public Service Code of conduct.
Stephanie Foster will act as Secretary of the Department until a permanent appointment can be made.
Nationals Party senator Perin Davey has criticised the deal struck between Labor and the Greens which will allocate hundreds of gigalitres of water to the environment in the Murray-Darling Basin through Commonwealth buy-backs.
Labor agreed to key amendments in exchange for Greens' support for the bill, including improvements to transparency and ensuring First Nations people play a stronger role in decision-making.
But Ms Davey says the amendments have also stripped protections for farmers, which had allowed buybacks only if their socio-economic impact was neutral or positive.
"We've just heard that the minister acknowledges that buybacks hurt rural and regional Murray Darling Basin communities, but they don't care because this bill removes the socio and economic test for water recovery under that 450 gigalitre plan."
But Greens senator Sarah Hanson Young says the return of water to the environment is a necessity that requires immediate attention.
"Now for the first time the minister for environment will have a legal, enforcable obligation to recover the 450 gigalitres and deliver real water for the environment, in full, and on time. The truth is you can't eat cotton, and you can't drink mud, and there are no jobs on a dead planet or a dead river."
The federal government is investing a further $225 million for security agencies - the Australian Federal Police and Australian Border Force - to monitor the release of immigration detainees previously held in indefinite detention.
A further 45 people have been released from indefinite detention, following a High Court decision ruling indefinite detention unlawful, bringing the total number of people released to 138.
The November decision requires those released to be subject to mandatory curfews and wear electronic monitoring devices indefinitely.
New laws are also being introduced that will criminalise any breach of these conditions - including approaching schools or daycare centres.
It comes as Australian Border Force has alleged four people breached their visa conditions.
Human rights lawyers have condemned the strict conditions.
Home Affairs minister Claire O'Neil says the dispersal of funding ensures Australian Border Force and Police staff are adequately equipped to respond if there are any breaches of these visa conditions.
So just so you've got clarity about the resourcing, this is a $255 million dollar a year package of which $150 million will go to Australian Border Force, $88 million will go to the Australian Federal Police. The the model that we're using here is ABF essentially does the monitoring, then the moment there is a breach a breach of the conditions, the case is handed to the AFP for investigation and prosecution."
Liberal spokesman for Immigration and Citizenship Dan Tehan says there is still uncertainty around how many of the former detainees are being monitored.
"So $255 million doesn't clear up that uncertainty. What we need to hear from the government is how many of those 140 are being monitored; how many of them are wearing ankle bracelets. The community deserves to know. These are hardened criminals. These include child sex offenders and we are getting no information from the government."
