Senate report confirms what we all know

A Senate Report exposed what we all know  -  outsourcing public service work to for-profit companies like PWC & KPMG has done huge damage.

The Management and Assurance of Integrity by Consulting Services Report confirms what Proud to be Public supporters and CPSU members have been saying for years – the best place for public sector work to be is in the hands of public sector workers.

To end the overreliance on consultants and contractors and rebuild our public service there must be transparent public reporting, real accountability for conduct of entities with government contracts, clear targets to insource work and ongoing investment in public service capability including staffing and pay.

The report recommendations go some way towards achieving this, and have taken on board CPSU recommendations such as:

• The transfer of knowledge from consultants to the APS being factored into the design, management and evaluation of contracts.

• Developing a central register for conflicts of interest breaches.

• Improving the usability of Austender by including more detailed descriptions about contracts and any concerns raised about the provider.

Our campaign to end the overreliance on contractors and consultants has already had significant wins in the last two years, including the in-house consulting hub, investment in new APS jobs, and  the Strategic Commissioning Framework which requires agencies to bring core work back in-house, but there is much more to do.

Sign up to our campaign and call on the Albanese Labor Government to end the consultant culture in the Australian Public Service.

These private companies will always have a profit motive, they will always have conflict of interest risks, they will always lack accountability and transparency.  And they will always fall short when it comes to meeting public service standards because they are not operating to serve the public, they are operating to service profit margins.

Together, we can make lasting change to end this rort and rebuild our public services.