‘Whole orchard’ of unethical consultants in government departments, says O’Neill

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There is a “whole orchard” of unethical consultants and dubious practices that have infiltrated their way into the APS following a hollowing out of public services capabilities in recent decades, according to senator Deborah O’Neill.

O’Neill is one of several senators inquiring into the consulting sector and integrity measures that have been put in place, and she was reacting to the latest revelations in Nine newspapers that consulting firm Noetic had boasted of its closeness to public officials, and access it had to government departments.

“Over almost 10 years of Liberal-Nationals government, the Australian Public Service was systemically dismantled. In its place, a corpocratic consulting sector infiltrated the public service,” O’Neill said.

“The revelations that consulting firm Noetic claimed ‘unfettered access’ to high-ranking public service officials are deeply concerning.

“The integrity of the public service is a crucial component of Australia’s national security, and of our democratic health.”

The senator responsible for triggering an audit regulation inquiry that concluded in 2020, and also for probing further into the PwC scandal alongside Greens senator Barbara Pocock, said the practices across the consulting sector were not limited to only one or two firms but were sector-wide.

“This is not the case of a singular ‘bad apple’; there is a whole orchard growing inside our government departments,” O’Neill said.

“The abandonment of even the most basic ethical principles, and the elevation of the pursuit of profit above all else, is clearly endemic across the consulting sector. Noetic’s contemptuous ranking of high-ranking Australian public service personnel reflects a feeding frenzy of unethical attempts by consultants to gain influence, and monetary benefit, via public service officials.

“The revolving door between the public service and the major consulting firms raises further questions over the propriety of engagements between Australia’s public service and private consulting companies.”

O’Neill’s comments about the widespread ethical bankruptcy of players in the sector come on the same day as it is revealed the Department of Finance has engaged the services of Simon Longstaff from The Ethics Centre to help it with assessing whether PwC and the government consulting spin-off are ethically fit for purpose to continue to take on government contracts.

Finance minister Katy Gallagher revealed the appointment of Longstaff in correspondence to Pocock that responded to questions related to what the Department of Finance was doing to ensure the government could have confidence in an work done by Scyne Advisory, the new government consulting play that has been set up of Allegro Funds.

“With regard to your broader concerns regarding the engagement of Scyne, my Department is engaging with PwC Australia and Scyne regarding its structure and future operations to ensure the Government can have confidence in any future work it delivers,” Gallagher said.

“To assist in these assessments, Finance has engaged an ethics adviser, Dr Simon Longstaff AO, CEO of The Ethics Centre.”