2023-10-13
By Barbara Pocock
Senator for South Australia
2023 was the year we lifted the lid on the use of consultants in the Australian Public Service. Since commencing a Senate inquiry into the management of consultants in March, we have uncovered a raft of unethical conflicts that will continue unravelling for years to come.
Public Sector
Reversing the Privatisation creep
After decades of the LNP waging an ideological war against the public sector, we are left with a massive explosion in privatisation through use of consultants. The spends on consultants have been hidden from the taxpayer, but we now know at least $10 billion has been paid out to the Big Four (EY, KPMG, Deloitte and PwC) over the last ten years. This is public money taken out of the scrutiny of the Senate and the parliament.
The inquiry I initiated in the Senate in March has uncovered systemic failings and an appalling failure of ethical practice in consultancy firms. In June the Senate Finance and Public Administration Committee released the report titled PwC: A calculated Breach of Trust that sets out the committee's views on PwC's serious and deliberate breaches of confidence – and their coverup of these failures. I referred PwC to the National Anti-Corruption Commission in July for investigation and have called on Minister for the Public Service, Senator Katy Gallagher to ban PwC from gaining further government contracts.
We need a strong public sector which is accountable, transparent, and acts in the public interest - not for private profit. Instead, consecutive governments have accepted donations from consultants and in turn consultants are getting back a thousand dollars on every dollar invested. There is a great deal of work ahead to restore capability, integrity, the public interest and decent working conditions to the public sector and part of that work lies in strong investigative work in the parliament. I will continue to throw light on this undermining of our democracy and work on rebuilding our public sector.
Employment
Looking for a 21st Century approach
In March 2023 the Select Committee on Work and Care that I chaired handed down its final report, with key recommendations supported by the majority of committee members. Following on this from I am continuing to advocate for the changes we need in our workplaces. These include:
- A right to disconnect
- A four-day work week
- Valuing care work
- Decent pay and conditions for carers
- Paid leave for casuals
- 52 weeks paid parental leave
- Predictable and stable rosters
- Free early childhood education and care
Our workplace relations system is still broken, but we can fix it. It's time workplace law caught up with the real lives of Australia’s five million working carers, women and men. We will be moving further amendments in the Senate in coming months as the next tranche of industrial relations legislation is rolled out and we will continue to fight for greater flexibility and workplace laws that support working carers.
Finance
Through my questioning in Senate Estimates I have extracted information never before revealed by The Future Fund. The Future Fund has failed to seriously diversify away from coal and gas, investing a total $3.4 billion in the biggest polluting companies in the world. The Future Fund also invests huge amounts in gambling companies. I was very clear to its representatives that if they are investing our funding, they should not be causing harm, which subsequently leaves the public sector and the public purse to clean up.
Since the May Budget, the Federal Greens team and I have put a spotlight on Labor’s decision to keep millions of Australians trapped in poverty, cut billions from the NDIS over the next decade, and done nothing to tackle student debt or seriously address the housing crisis as it affects the one third of Australians who are renters.
South Australia
Pushing the Labor Government to think again about Nuclear Waste
The Barngarla people have been fighting the Federal Government’s plan to build a nuclear waste dump on their land at Napandee, near Kimba in South Australia. This year I've been asking questions about how much the Federal Government is spending on lawyers to fight the Barngarla community. It's more than $2 million, and the First Nations custodians havespent just a quarter of that amount to try to protect the sacred lands of the Seven Sisters Dreaming from becoming a toxic radioactive waste dump.
When I visited the site with Senator Cox in April, we found more than a dozen workers with a range of vehicles and equipment already working at the site. I continued to put pressure on the Federal Minister for Resources, Madeleine King, who was not only fighting the Barngarla people in court, but wasting taxers money funding preparation works at the site before the court decision had even been made.
In July the Federal Court found the former Minister for Resources and Water Keith Pitt acted with apprehended bias and ruled that the facility could not be built. Finally, on 10 August the Labor Government dropped this inherently bad idea and activities around the site have ceased. This is a huge victory for the Barngarla people, the community of farmers and residents at Kimba, and for all in South Australian who opposed the dump at Kimba. Any future proposals must give all citizens a say, and ensure free, prior and informed consent for First Nations Australians and all citizens affected.
Thank you to all my amazing skilled and dedicated staff, all the Greens volunteers who help us out very day, and the incredible hardworking broader Greens team for all your support enabling me to work to help build and protect a safe planet, and for a more just world.
– Barbara