A Senate committee is calling on PwC to disclose the “names and positions” of those involved in the embattled consultancy firm’s controversial tax leaks scandal.
The Inquiry was launched in the wake of the PwC tax leaks scandal, where the firm leaked sensitive Australian government information to corporations.
Government senators Deborah O’Neill and Louise Pratt say the PwC tax scandal represents a crisis in public trust in corporate Australia.
“The PwC tax leaks scandal, and the wave of ethical failures subsequently exposed at other large consulting and audit firms, has struck at the very core of Australians’ faith in the integrity of corporate Australia, and of the way in which such entities engage with government.”
In additional comments to the senate report released this afternoon, Greens senators have called for PwC to be banned from federal government tenders until the consulting firm reveals the names of those involved with the tax scandal.
They expand on their broader concerns with consultants:
The extraordinary expansion of consultants into our public sector over recent years has had dire consequences: it has gifted billions to the Big Four while cannibalising funding for essential public services; it has given too much power to small numbers of influential people who have assiduously and deliberately farmed a tight network of close relationships for personal benefit–across the big end of town and into governments and regulatory bodies. In too many places, a very profitable network is evident, circulating through revolving doors that spin across the sector. This corrupts our democracy.
