National stories

National stories

The Canberra Times - Consultant Nation

Yes please minister: Labor spends billions on advice

By Edmund Tadros and Markus Mannheim

The federal government has spent half a billion dollars a year on consultants since Labor won office 4½ years ago, an analysis of its contracts shows.

Yet while Finance Minister Penny Wong has warned agencies to slash this spending, few public servants believe it will happen.

The Canberra Times examined every consultancy deal published on the AusTender website in the four years since 2008 – 17,736 contracts worth $2,170,180,096.

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