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

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Finance (Senator Gallagher) to a question without notice I asked today relating to PricewaterhouseCoopers.

This afternoon's question time showed that there is much more to be done to hold PwC to account. I asked the minister about the actions the government is taking and whether it will ban PwC from all commercial interactions and whether she agreed that the paid partnership structure has failed and needs an overhaul, and we're really still awaiting meaningful answers to these questions. There's so much that needs to be done. Australians must have and are looking for meaningful change, given the events they have watched unfold over the last year.

The 12-month inquiry into consulting services that I initiated has exposed serious weaknesses in the governance, leadership and culture of PwC Australia and also raises serious questions about the opaque nature and structure of a large international partnership like PwC. The recent revelations about the secretive network rules used by PwC International to control PwC Australia raise serious questions. Who's in charge? What powers are exercised and by whom? How often have they been used and when? What can the Australian government and the Australian people do about it?

The secret legal agreement that we now have knowledge of gives five partners sweeping powers. They are faceless International figures. They can impose their own chosen leader—and they did. This is a firm that not so long ago received millions of dollars in government contracts. Unbeknownst to us, at any time over the 20-odd years of their existence, they could have had International partners and parents swoop in and use the legal guardian card to block decisions. We know the faceless PwC International figures unilaterally replaced CEO Kristin Stubbins with their man from Global, Kevin Burrowes. We know that PwC International is currently imposing supervised remediation—to use their term—to take control of PwC Australia, who they have defined as a defaulting firm in the wake of the tax leak scam laws. PwC international is running the show. However, they refused to hand over the Linklaters report that spells out who did what in the International sphere as the PwC scandal and misuse of confidential information unfolded.

More than a year has passed since I referred this matter to our committee, and PwC have still not provided a full and frank account of who did what in Australia or internationally. Getting accurate evidence from them has been like pulling teeth; it has been so reluctantly surrendered. PwC International's unwillingness to cooperate with the committee inquiries underway through this Senate speaks volumes about their attitude to the Australian people, to our parliament and to this Senate. They are making a mockery of the inquiry process working to uncover behaviour that all of us would agree is reprehensible and to ensure integrity in large consulting partnerships operating in Australia.

The egregious events in PwC took eight years to surface. They came within a whisker of being buried and failing to come to the attention of the Australian parliament and people. Such a cover-up would have been a national disaster. It is critical than organisations like PwC or our public institutions and departments do not slow investigations or prevent the timely and fulsome release of evidence relevant to proper regulation, transparency and integrity in public governance. The value obtained for billions of dollars of public spending, the quality of financial services and their regulation, along with the wellbeing of thousands of Australian employees, rests on better governance, leadership and regulation in large consulting firms as well as a strong and effective regulatory response in public institutions.

If the government truly wants to rebuild people's faith in the system, we need to hold PwC Australia and International to account. We need to lower the cap on the number of partners in these very large accounting firms. You cannot effectively run a partnership with a thousand partners. We need a vigorous and robust public sector with integrity and transparency, and we need good governance in the consulting industry. We need strong and effective regulatory structures that are free from capture by the big firms and by vested interests and organisations that do their jobs with vigour and independence. The response to the PwC tax leak scandal is a true test of this government's integrity and commitment to good policy, not just good politics.

Question agreed to.