Barbara Pocock (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the moment, it seems that scarcely a day passes without some new revelation regarding the culture of conflict of interest, corruption and cover-up in the consulting industry. Late last week, PwC, a firm whose name is rapidly becoming synonymous with graft, was revealed to have engaged in more conduct that gives rise to serious concerns about its ability to manage conflicts of interest appropriately. In 2016 and 2017, when it was contracted to provide a range of services to the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, PwC acquired a substantial stake in a private tertiary education provider, Top Education Group. Through extensive contracts and numerous embedded staff, PwC gained unrivalled access to TEQSA, while failing to disclose the potential conflict of interest arising from its investment in Top Education Group.

Once again, we're left wondering how far PwC's tentacles reach into the heart of our public institutions. Several senior partners also made individual investments in the training organisation, TOP, including then CEO, Luke Sayers, and his successor, Tom Seymour, who led the tax practice where confidential Treasury documents were used to market tax-minimisation strategies to large multinationals. In each new scandal we're hearing the same names, the same firms, the same partners and the same leaders, all implicated in the same ethically dubious practices. What is it going to take for the Albanese government to join with state governments and say, 'Enough is enough,' ban contracts with PwC and back our call to remove PwC's registration as a tax agent?