The Australian Public Service Commission’s APS Academy contracts KPMG to deliver training to public servants on ethics. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Philip Morris is soon to deliver high-level training to APS bosses on how to stay healthy in their stressful jobs; Meta will present courses on the harms of social media; Woodside will give the Senior Executive Service a masterclass in framing net zero emissions policy; and Pauline Hanson and Angus Taylor will do a tag-team presentation on how best to build an inclusive workforce.
Does that sound a little far-fetched?
“Ridiculous!” I hear many of you screaming.
How about KPMG being contracted to deliver ethics training to the government’s public sector leaders?
That’s right – KPMG, that bastion of unethical behaviour, is teaching the Federal Government’s incoming wave of top-echelon public sector bosses how they should behave.
Ridiculous? More like reality.
KPMG has proved it cannot be trusted to act ethically, decently or legally, and it has no place telling the Australian Public Service how to do anything.
That it retains its lucrative contract with the Australian Public Service Commission to deliver leadership and ethical courses to new SES appointees, in light of the corruption that has been exposed within its own consultancy ranks, is a disgrace of the highest order.
That the government is making it easier for the Big Four giant to keep getting the contract renewed, borders on unforgivable.
It’s pretty simple – KPMG is not in a position to lecture anyone on ethical behaviour and the Federal Government should make that clear.
But instead, Labor hides behind procurement law, legal contracts, precedent, and any other flimsy excuse it can muster to keep the unethical consultancy in the classroom delivering lessons on ethics.
The government can cancel contracts for any number of reasons, including when the contractor is found unfit for the purposes of the contract.
Governments can cancel contracts for poor behaviour, unethical practices, necessity, or even convenience.
They can do it as an executive decision or, if they are too weak-kneed to do that, introduce legislation in parliament to specifically cancel existing contracts.
In this current Federal Parliament, Labor would easily see such legislation pass both chambers.
It has the numbers in the House of Representatives, and it would find an ally in the Greens and others in the Senate for such a move.
Greens Senator Barbara Pocock has been at the forefront of the push to seriously clamp down on corrupt and unethical contractors.
But so too have some of Labor’s own senators, including the very vocal Deborah O’Neill as chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services.
What is lacking is the political will inside Cabinet and the government itself.
KPMG’s delivery of training to public servant students of the commission’s APS Academy devalues the academy as a whole.
Graduates of the courses should feel no sense of pride or achievement.
They are being trained by scoundrels whose only interests are their own profits.
The APS Values include one of being ethical – precisely that: “The APS demonstrates leadership, is trustworthy, and acts with integrity, in all that it does.”
As noble a value as this is, it is nothing more than a bunch of weasel words and a whole lot of lip service while KPMG is leading the way on how it should be achieved.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is investigating the consultant’s scandalous behaviour; the Greens have referred KPMG to the National Anti-Corruption Commission; a parliamentary inquiry has been delving into the matter and forcing some uncomfortable admissions.
Heads have rolled at the highest levels of the consultancy firm over the scandal.
The Finance Department has imposed a moratorium on KPMG bidding for new Federal Government work until 30 September.
None of this appears to affect KPMG’s existing Commonwealth contracts, but at the very least, Labor must stop the firm from training public servants in ethical behaviour.
If KPMG were serious about its change in governance and a renewed focus on its own ethics, it would voluntarily relinquish the training contract in question.
It’s a sure bet this Labor government won’t be employing Pauline Hanson or Angus Taylor to deliver lectures on anything at all to its public service bureaucrats.
Yet if it continues to allow an unethical contractor to teach public service bosses about ethics, it would hardly come as any surprise if big tobacco were soon to be contracted to deliver health training; the fossil fuel sector on climate change; and Mark Zuckerberg flown in to teach government boffins about keeping kids safe online.
Original Article published by Chris Johnson on Region Canberra.
