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

I rise in outrage at this government's decision to allow PwC, the firm at the centre of one of the most shocking breaches of public trust in recent memory, to rebid for government contracts. Let's be clear. PwC monetised confidential Treasury information. They betrayed the people of this country for profit. It wasn't a mistake. It was a deliberate, systemic breach of trust, and what's the punishment? A slap on the wrist, a PR clean-up and now another shot at government contracts—back to the trough.

This decision is not only tone deaf; it is morally bankrupt. Senators across this chamber who did the hard forensic work to chase down at the miscreants in PwC share my outrage. The internal changes within PwC are not reform; they are reputational management. PwC have proven themselves to be untrustworthy. They have continuously refused to cooperate with government inquiries, and they have not supplied key documents.

The Greens have called for a ban on PwC from government work for five years, certainly until all investigations into their behaviour are complete—not a pause, not a mutual agreement to step aside for a short time, but a ban. The reason is simple. The public deserves better than a government that rewards bad behaviour. I will not stand by while this government greenlights PwC. This decision tells Australians that power and cosy relationships matter more than ethics, that you can rip off the system and face no real consequence under a Labor Government. We reject that. We demand integrity. We will not stop fighting until PwC is held to account and until this government puts public interest before private profit.

This decision should trouble every member of this chamber. It's an insult to the senators and MPs who worked on two parliamentary inquiries examining what went wrong in PwC. It's an insult to our work, and we should do better. (Time expired)