Some of Australia’s biggest consulting firms will not follow PwC’s lead and ban donations to political parties, despite pressure to do so from public integrity experts and some senators.
PwC announced on Monday it would no longer make donations to political parties with its acting chief executive, Kristin Stubbins, telling partners it would strengthen the firm’s governance standards as it continues to deal with a scandal caused by the misuse of confidential government tax information.
“Although we have always taken the utmost care to ensure our political donations do not create any real or perceived conflicts of interest, we recognise that doing away with political donations is the best way of ensuring the highest standards of governance,” Stubbins said.
The ban, which includes payments to attend fundraising events, in-kind donations for event hosting or catering and other direct donations, has led to speculation other big consultancy firms may be pressured into announcing similar measures.
Analysis by the Centre for Public Integrity found the big four firms – PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and EY – have donated $4.3m to Labor and the Coalition over the past decade. During that time, the value of their government contracts increased by 400%.
Deloitte Australia’s CEO, Adam Powick, said the company’s contribution to political parties was “based on facilitating meetings and discussions to encourage the exchange of ideas between business, the broader community and government”.
“Deloitte’s policy is to make contributions that are primarily in the form of in-kind donations (i.e. providing our office facilities) and sponsorship of entities that set up these discussion forums,” Powick said.
“We believe that facilitating appropriate dialogue is an important contribution we can continue to make.”
Australian Electoral Commission returns show Deloitte donated $240,432 to state and federal political parties last financial year.
A KPMG spokesperson said the firm reviews its political donations strategy each year and would continue to do so.
“Donations represent memberships and sponsorships of business associations and conferences which are managed by each of the major political parties operating at both a state and federal level,” the spokesperson said.
“These provide opportunities for attendance at policy briefing sessions, and invitations to networking events with business and parliamentary representatives. No cash political donations were made.”
KPMG’s latest donation disclosure to the Australian Electoral Commission confirms $242,455 was donated to state and federal political parties last financial year.
EY was contacted for comment and is yet to confirm whether its policy has changed.
Transparency International Australia’s chief exective, Clancy Moore, said PwC’s self-imposed ban came after ANZ announced similar measures. He also cited a report by federal parliament’s joint standing committee on electoral matters, which called for a ban on large donations to politicians and greater transparency.
“These are important reforms as we know big industries often bankroll political parties’ election campaigns in exchange for access, cosy relationships and favourable treatment,” Moore said.
“For the big four consultancy firms it creates a major conflict of interest as they bid for and win millions of dollars in government contracts every year.”
Last week the Greens senator Barbara Pocock called for a ban on the major firms making political donations while Geoffrey Watson, a board member at the Centre for Public Integrity, said the federal government’s “persistent over-reliance” on the firms had “a corrosive impact on the role of the Australian public service”.
The Labor senator Deborah O’Neill said PwC’s stance on donations was “entirely a matter for them” but that political parties relied on such donations, and noted they were subject to laws around declarations. She added that the company’s announcement on donations did not ease her concerns about whether PwC had learned lessons from the ongoing scandal.
