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

I rise to take note of committee report No. 52 from the Finance and Public Administration Reference Committee, Management and assurance of integrity by consulting services, on an inquiry I initiated into the big four two years back. That inquiry generated shared outrage across us all here in the chamber. We were outraged at the monetisation by PwC of confidential government tax information to help some of the world's largest multinationals avoid tax. We were outraged at the aggressive 'land and expand' tactics and the contract extensions of the big four, the superprofitable revolving door between government and consultancies, the deliberately cultivated conflicts of interest, the cheating on ethics exams and the payment of public dollars for poor, incomplete or no work at all. And that's just the start.

This report set out the sins of these rorters in a rolled gold internationally significant case study of the big consultancy con. Sadly, however, the recommendations authored by the big parties in this report are pathetic. They squibbed it. The recommendations, just 12 of them, are shamefully weak—'reviews', 'guidelines', 'training'. It's straight out of the 'lots of words but no change' playbook. We need deep systemic change. Our comprehensive Greens recommendations set that out. Labor's weak response to this inquiry leaves the big four intact and unpunished. Outrage is not enough; we need action.

What about the coalition? Where have they landed? The coalition are straight back to replenishing these consultants' trough. They want to cut the public sector by 36,000 jobs and refill the consultants' coffers. These are coffers that received $20.8 billion in consultant, labour hire and private sector contracts in the last year of the Morrison government. That is the world that Peter Dutton wants to take us back to—fewer jobs for Australians and big bucks for the big four and the big end of town. He is taking notes from Trump's America. Peter Dutton is drawing strength from Trump's dark, Voldemort shadow. Of all things, he has complimented Trump today for his 'big thinking'. A Dutton government promises, in Senator Cash's words this week, exactly the same attitude as Trump—a massive cut to public sector services and the return of overpriced, underperforming, conflicted consulting and labour hire firms, doing the jobs of public servants at three times the price.

We see in real time every day right now Trump modelling our future under a Dutton coalition government, and it is a horrific prospect. In the last couple of days Trump has cheered on Elon Musk, who has shut down whole agencies, like USAID, sacking tens of thousands of workers overnight and cutting $40 billion in foreign assistance without any congressional authority. Robert Reich, the former US Secretary of Labor and adviser to three previous US administrations, called what we are seeing in the US a coup—a coup! He points to the irony of the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, almost single-handedly destroying an aid agency designed to help the world's poorest people, all to fuel huge tax cuts for that very rich man and his billionaire mates and big corporations. It's a dangerous, destructive coup that is costing thousands of families their livelihoods and costing food and help for the world's poorest. These cuts shut down 43 per cent of the world's humanitarian aid. This cuts off access to water, sanitation, health care, disaster relief, shelter and food in places like Ethiopia, South Sudan and the Asia-Pacific.

This is the world that Mr Dutton wants to mimic, Trump's world of disdain for humanity and for the services that we need. He wants to mimic Trump's swap of public servants for consultants, labour hire and rampant profiteers. We say no. We say no to Dutton's Trumpian attack on our Public Service and workers and to his servile admiration for Trump's appalling—

Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Pocock, please refer to people in the other place by their correct title.

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

Mr Dutton, the Leader of the Opposition in the other place, will mimic Trump's swap of public servants for consultants, labour hire and rampant profiteers. We say no to Mr Dutton's Trumpian attack on our Public Service and workers and to the admiration for Trump's appalling 'big thinking' and we say yes to the major parties showing some backbone and taking real action on consultancy and labour hire rorts in response to the consultancy disaster that this chamber witnessed over the last two years.

Question agreed to.