Questions were left begging as Deloitte stonewalled the Senate inquiry into consulting services.
Deloitte Australia fronted the Senate inquiry into management and assurance of integrity by consulting services this morning “unprepared” to reveal which Commonwealth department was impacted by its misuse of government information in 2022.
Greens SA Senator Barbara Pocock asked the firm’s officers present at the inquiry – chief risk officer Sneza Pelusi, chairman Tom Imbesi, CEO Adam Powick and Matthew O’Donnell, lead partner of the company’s Australian Federal Government Practice Forensic and Risk Services – to name which department was involved, but all refused.
“We would like to obviously have the pre-approval of the department to provide that information,” said Mr Imbesi.
“You seriously came here today thinking that we will not ask you about that particular example, which involves the misuse of government information?” said an incredulous Senator Pocock.
“We did expect to talk about it, but we didn’t expect to name the department,” said Mr Imbesi.
“We’re not sure if that’s appropriate at this point. We’re not saying we not going to [divulge the department], but we’d like to check with the department and make sure we don’t have any other matters that we need to consider before we reveal that.”
Senator Pocock said the Australian taxpayer had a right to know if they were getting value for money out of Deloitte and others of the Big Four consultancy firms.
“You came here today, with much time for preparation, unprepared to talk about the specifics of that. That is one of the reasons why there is distrust about large consulting firms – you are opaque in the information you provide.”
Deloitte has confirmed the person responsible for the breach has been sacked.
The exchange left a few questions begging. Health Services Daily has contacted the Department of Health and Aged Care asking if it is the department involved, what contracts the DoHAC has with the Deloitte or has had in the past, the value of those contracts and the time periods involved.
At 5.20pm, a DoHAC spokesperson told HSD:
“The Department is not aware of misuse of Department of Health and Aged Care information by Deloitte.”
Late in the day The Australian Business Review reported that the West Australian Health department had stood down a staff member, “connected to Deloitte”, with the firm’s leadership insisting they had no knowledge of a potential conflict of interest breach hanging over the firm.
“WA department of health official Ashlee Wells told Senator Pocock’s office ‘concerns have been raised’ regarding a member of staff who was not a ‘permanent employee’ and these ‘relate to a possible connection to Deloitte’.
“’Inquiries into the matter are underway and while this occurs the employee is out of the workplace,’ she said.”
In other exchanges through today’s inquiry hearing, Deloitte revealed that its consultants were not covered by any professional regulatory oversight; CEO Adam Powick defended his $3.5 million per year salary while admitting that he was not worth “seven times the salary of the prime minister”; that Deloitte’s partners’ salaries start at about $300,000 per year and average $500,000 to $600,000.
