For years, MB lamented how decades of government outsourcing, waves of senior redundancies, and governments’ proclivity to seek advice from paid consultants had depleted Australia’s public sector.
As a consequence, the public sector’s historical reputation for “frank and fearless advice” has evaporated, replaced by propaganda and paid assessments geared to a certain political aim.
This view was supported by last year’s Senate Committee report titled “APS Inc: undermining public sector capability and performance”, which labelled consultants as “ticket clippers” and “rent seekers” and claimed they contributed to the politicisation of the public sector.
