All is forgiven. PwC is free to once again bid for government work. Photo: Region.
The Federal Government has snubbed parliamentary inquiries into PwC, opening the door for the disgraced consultancy giant to bid again on sensitive public sector contracts.
In fact, it is already entrenched in some lucrative government projects.
This is despite a last-ditch plea from those leading the inquiries to deny PwC Australia future opportunities to compete for government work.
The company was less than cooperative with the parliamentary inquiries, ignoring repeated demands for the release of pertinent documents.
PwC had a long-term ban placed on it after revelations of corrupt behaviour by some of its partners in sharing confidential Treasury information for their own gain and to help its international clients avoid paying taxes in Australia.
The former partners no longer work at PwC, but an Australian Federal Police investigation into the incident remains ongoing.
The Finance Department has reached the conclusion that all should be forgiven, but it was delayed from publishing its recommendation in July after three senators issued a request to maintain the ban.
They were the Greens’ Barbara Pocock, Labor’s Deborah O’Neill and the Liberals’ Richard Colbeck.
“In our view, there is no meaningful justification for giving them the green light after such little time and while significant investigations remain ongoing,” they wrote in a submission to Finance.
Their request was considered and quickly rejected, with Finance releasing its report and recommendation on Thursday (7 August).
“Finance concludes that PwC Australia has implemented, or is in the process of implementing, appropriate governance, ethical and cultural structures to significantly improve its ethical operation,” it stated.
“Finance considers that, in light of these changes … it is appropriate for Australian Government entities to consider contracting with PwC Australia as they would any other supplier.”
The department has concluded that PwC Australia now meets the “ethical standards of governance, culture, and accountability” and can again bid for government contracts.
Senator Pocock is outraged at the decision, calling it a “gutless” move on the part of the Federal Government.
The Greens’ finance spokesperson says Labor has betrayed the Australian people by ignoring requests to keep PwC in the doghouse.
“This government has betrayed the Australian people who had very rightly held the expectation that the rogue consulting firm PwC would be held to account for colluding with foreign multinationals to defraud our tax system,” Senator Barbara Pocock said.
“Letting these people back into the fold of government contracting sends a message that you can rip off the system and face no real consequence under a Labor government. This decision is gutless!
“PwC have proven themselves to be untrustworthy and have continuously refused to cooperate with government inquiries.
“They have given themselves a clean bill of health through an internal investigation and now want the people of Australia to forgive and forget when nothing has changed.
“In my view, that makes PwC no more trustworthy than when they sold us out to make a buck from the US tech giants.
“Very little has been done to put safeguards in place to ensure that the tax leak scandal does not happen again.
“This decision is exactly what PwC has been waiting for so they can return to business as usual with nothing being done to curtail the behaviour that has brought the entire consulting sector into disrepute.”
The Greens Senator said a “mind-blowing element” of Finance’s report is the revelation that PwC Australia had three active contracts with Australian Government entities with an estimated value of $11.6 million as of June 2025.
This includes a contract providing audit services to the Australian National Audit Office.
“How is this justifiable?” Senator Pocock asked.
“Furthermore, Finance’s review didn’t take into account PwC’s refusal to provide multiple parliamentary inquiries with crucial documents … The government’s decision to let PwC back into the contracting fold is an insult to the Senators and MPs who worked on two parliamentary inquiries examining what went wrong at PwC.
“We made a raft of recommendations which have yet to be enacted, while the government renews its contracting relationship with this disgraced entity.
“I am deeply disappointed in the government for making this decision.”
Following the scandal, which was revealed in 2023, a mutual agreement was formed between the government and PwC that it would not bid for Commonwealth work.
The freeze was later extended until July this year.
That ban is now lifted, but Finance says it will continue monitoring the company until 2027.
