PwC charged health department to provide ‘risk management’ workshop in weeks before scandal

Exclusive: Consultancy firm ran event at Department of Health and Aged Care in December, days before former PwC partner was banned by tax advice regulator

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PwC Australia billed taxpayers to deliver a “risk management workshop” to a department that was subsequently forced to suspend the firm’s $2.3m contract in the aged care sector, pending an investigation into potential conflicts of interest.

The $36,000 engagement has been described as “frankly absurd” by the public sector union and criticised by legal academics given a Senate committee report released in June 2023 that confirmed the consultancy firm had been engaging in a “calculated” breach of trust.

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