AUDIT REPORT SLAMS PERROTTET’S $1 BILLION CONSULTANCY SPEND
The Perrottet Government has splurged $1 billion on consultants – breaking a key 2019 Liberal election promise – according to the NSW Auditor General.
The report found that the Perrottet government ploughed $1 billion into consultants “across more than 10,000 engagements from 2017-18 to 2021-22.
The findings
The audit also found:
- the NSW Liberal National Government and its agencies “do not procure and manage consultants effectively” and that the Government broke its own procurement rules when engaging consultants;
- the Government has failed to ensure a strategic approach to using consultants, or systems for managing or evaluating their performance;
- Agencies made variations to contracts that increased the amount paid to consultants in almost one in three of the consulting engagements examined, in one instance increasing a consultant contract by $2.5 million; and
- one quarter of the contracts selected for this audit, agencies could not provide details of the contracts.
Liberals’ broken promise
The Auditor General thus concluded that “Based on available data, it is highly unlikely that NSW government agencies will achieve the government’s 2019 policy commitment to reduce spending on consultants”
The NSW Liberal-National government promised to reduce spending on consultants by $99.6 million.
However, according to actual spending data, agencies missed the spending reduction targets by $98.7 million in the first three years from 2019–20.
This throws into serious doubt the Perrottet Government’s election commitment to reduce spending on procurement by $729 million over four years and leaves the budget in a worse position than promised by the Perrottet Government.
The Auditor General’s evaluation of the Perrottet government’s approach to using consultants was scathing, stating that it did not “have a strategic approach to using consultants, or systems for managing or evaluating their performance.”
Quotes attributable to Daniel Mookhey, NSW Shadow Treasurer:
“Today’s report by the NSW Auditor-General shows that the Perrottet Government has no credibility when it comes to economic management.
“NSW taxpayers should be appalled at these latest revelations and the extent of the Perrottet Government’s waste.
“This is evidence of a 12-year-old, tired Liberal National Government and it is clear that NSW needs a fresh start.”
THURSDAY, 2 MARCH 2023