Courtney Houssos: “We need to deliver value for money for taxpayers by spending more money on essential services and less money on unnecessary consultants.” Photo: Courtney Houssos Instagram.
The Minns Government in NSW has launched an initiative to better utilise knowledge within the public sector and reduce reliance on external consultants.
The Expert Advisory Network (EAN) has created a list of 30 existing teams across the public service that will provide projects across the government with specialist advice and support for projects. This includes stakeholder engagement, policy, strategy, financial and commercial services, infrastructure, actuarial services, tech and environmental services.
Investment NSW’s economic and analytics capabilities team and the Multicultural NSW interpretation and translation services are already on the list.
EAN support will differ depending on the need. Some projects will receive one-time advice, while others may benefit from ongoing coaching, peer review, direct project delivery and financial/commercial services.
The policy’s intent is to share knowledge between agencies and allow them to rebuild institutional capacity, reducing the reliance on external private consultants.
“Establishing this network is a step forward as we undertake reforms on how the government spends money on goods and services,” Minister for Domestic Manufacturing and Government Procurement Courtney Houssos said.
”This is a common-sense reform and makes sure we work smarter within the public service and ensure taxpayer dollars are spent wisely.
“We need to deliver value for money for taxpayers by spending more money on essential services and less money on unnecessary consultants.”
As the program progresses, more teams will join and the government will gain greater capacity to complete projects internally, with fewer resources sourced externally.
The Auditor-General identified more than $1 billion spent on external consultants without adequate procurement and management policies under the previous Liberal-National Government.
More analysis found that more than 15 per cent of contracts were for “generalist work” on report writing, program evaluation and policy design projects.
In 2023-2024, the NSW Government delivered $450 million in savings on consultant and contingent labour.
The public service has become a political focus of the upcoming federal election as Opposition Leader Peter Dutton promises to fire thousands of public servants, while the Prime Minister has expressed support for the public service, focusing on its on-the-ground assistance during natural disasters.
The privatisation of the public service resulted in a consultancy over-dependence sometimes blamed for the PwC tax scandal, in which consulting firms working with the government to reform the tax system to better pursue tax avoiders ended up sharing that information with their corporate clients to help cheat Australian taxpayers.
A 2024 report by the Cabinet Office found that using in-house expertise already within the public service instead of outsourcing to private entities could save as much as 52 per cent on each contract.
The NSW Government has also implemented stricter controls on spending on consultants and external labour, and has issued instructions to agencies regarding the use of consultants.
The strategy intends not just to reduce costs, but strengthen the state’s public sector and improve services for families.
