Consultants should sign PS code of conduct says union

At the same time as the financial services regulators have told superannuation funds they cannot outsource blame to external service providers, Australia’s largest public sector union says consultants employed by the Commonwealth should be subject to the public servant code of conduct.

The Commonwealth Public Sector Union (CPSU) has told the Parliamentary Committee inquiry formed in response to the PWC scandal that “all contracted individuals” should be subject to the Australian Public Service Code of Conduct.

Further, the CPSU has said that consultants used under contract by Government departments should also be subject to “a public and reported disbarment and suspension regime”.

Answering questions on notice from the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services, the CPSU also backed a structural separation of the audit functions of the major consultancies from their advisory and consultancy functions”.

Further the union said that the consultancies should not be trusted to self-regulate such an operational split.

“We consider an operational split cannot be relied on as it requires a degree of self regulation and would require significant regulatory oversight; as evidenced by the 2023 internal Switkowski Review of PwC,” the union said.

It said the tender process and contracts covering consultants “must include strong provisions to avoid conflicts of interest and penalties for breaches”.

“So that contracts include:

1. Disclosure of a full client list as part of a government tender process
2. Compliance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standard
3. All contracted individuals are subject to the Australian Public Service Code of Conduct
4. A public and reported debarment and suspension regime.