This report draws on evidence from several audit reports, and also from procurement practitioners, as well as the context of similar findings over recent years, to make 19 recommendations both to the audited entities and to the Australian Department of Finance as the 'steward' of the procurement framework.

This survey asked Australians about their attitudes towards the Federal Government’s use of external consultants. Most people agreed that the public service should have the skills and capacity to do work currently outsourced to consultants and that too much money is spent on unaccountable external consultations.

This paper looks at the political donations contributed by Australia's largest four consultancy groups; KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young and Deloitte, and the impact their activity has had on the capability of the Australian Public Service.

Through a broad overview of what works and what doesn’t and three detailed case studies dealing with aged care, COVID responses and the Victorian roads maintenance sector, this report shows that the Australian experience of privatisation, outsourcing and contracting of essential government services and Public Private Partnerships over three decades has been decidedly mixed.

This report identifies four circumstances in which governments should consider returning a service to the public sector: an unhealthy or uncompetitive market; the need for flexibility to make changes to the service; a lack of government commercial skills to manage an outsourced contract successfully; or a need to improve the service by integrating it with...