Labor has opened the door to consultancy firm PwC being able to bid for government work following the damaging tax leak scandal.
Revelations emerged in 2023 that PwC had misused confidential information to help companies pay less tax.
It led to the firm selling off its government advisory arm and agreeing to a non-compete clause that it will not provide services to government until 2028.
But a review by the Department of Finance found “it is appropriate for Australian government entities to consider contracting with PwC Australia as they would any other supplier”.
Despite the decision, PwC maintains it cannot undertake government work, and may not start bidding for in three years’ time.
“We are proud of the progress we’ve made across the past two years and look forward to continuing to embed these important changes,” PwC Australia chief executive Kevin Burrowes said.
“There is more work to do as we strive to become the pre-eminent professional services firm, with a focus on delivering exceptional outcomes for our clients, using our deep industry sector expertise.”
Greens finance spokeswoman Barbara Pocock is one of three senators who led an inquiry into the scandal, and asked the finance department to reverse its draft decision to lift the restrictions.
She slammed the move as “gutless”.
“This government has betrayed the Australian people who had very rightly held the expectation that the rogue consulting firm PwC would be held to account for colluding with foreign multinationals to defraud our tax system,” Senator Pocock said.
“Very little has been done to put safeguards in place to ensure that the tax leak scandal does not happen again.”
PwC banned donations to political parties in the wake of the tax scandal, which led to thousands of staff leaving the firm.
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