The government of New South Wales (NSW) in Australia has implemented a temporary ban on consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in an effort to enhance the quality of consultant services provided by third parties. The NSW government announced on June 15 that PwC would be suspended from obtaining new government contracts related to taxation policies for three months due to the recent leak of confidential federal documents. This leak occurred as a result of former partner Peter Collins sharing sensitive government documents with fellow partners and staff at PwC, enabling the firm to assist large companies in evading newly implemented taxes in Australia. Collins is currently under criminal investigation by the Australian Federal Police. NSW Finance Minister Courtney Houssos stated that the ban was implemented to protect the community from further leaks of confidential documents and to reinforce the state’s regime to prevent such breaches. PwC is now required to confirm each month that none of the individuals involved in the scandal will handle any state government work. The NSW government is also working on reviewing and strengthening conflict of interest and confidentiality terms for all professional services engagements in the state. It should be noted that the ban on PwC will not affect any existing contracts the firm has already undertaken. Additionally, an Auditor-General report in March highlighted that NSW government agencies spent $1 billion on external consultants across 10,000 contracts between 2017-2018 and 2021-2022. The report revealed that eight firms, including PwC, accounted for 50 percent of this spending, demonstrating the over-reliance on major consulting firms. The report also identified various issues in the management of consultants by government agencies, such as a lack of clear guidelines for classifying and reporting expenses, absence of a comprehensive data source for total government spending on consultants, and insufficient monitoring and evaluation of consulting engagements. Meanwhile, the Victorian government has indicated that it will continue to employ PwC until the completion of the federal investigation, with Premier Daniel Andrews expressing confidence that no confidential information was leaked by PwC. PwC was the second-highest-paid agency among consulting firms hired by the Victorian government in the 2021-2022 financial year, earning $15.3 million in contract revenue.