The pendulum has swung sharply, with a knee-jerk reaction that risks sidelining all consulting expertise, rather than addressing the real issue: the quality and integrity of the firms engaged. The government must resist the urge to demonise the entire profession and instead take a more considered approach—one that prioritises truly sovereign and experienced Australian SMEs that offer deep expertise, ethical service delivery, and better value for money.

But let’s be clear—while increasing in-house expertise is a noble goal, it is not a panacea. Government departments cannot realistically maintain full-time staff with the depth and breadth of specialised skills required for every challenge. More importantly, APS staff do not always have the agility, external perspective, or commercial acumen that a well-chosen consulting partner can bring.

Simply cutting consultants out of the picture does not address the root problem: the government’s historical reliance on a narrow pool of global consulting giants, often selected through flawed procurement processes that favoured size and familiarity over quality and ethical service delivery.

The real opportunity for the Commonwealth is not in eliminating consultants but in recalibrating how they are engaged. Australia has a wealth of highly skilled, ethical, and innovative SME consultancies—firms that are truly sovereign, deeply embedded in the local landscape, and committed to delivering real value to the taxpayer.

The SME community is the backbone of the Australian economy, contributing significantly to employment, innovation, and national capability. However, despite their proven value, SMEs continue to be overlooked in favour of larger firms with international parent companies, particularly in government procurement.

A glaring example of this is the Defence Industry Development Plan, which indicates a preference for engaging large international organisations that have simply registered a business (ABN) in Australia. This approach fundamentally fails to recognise the true benefits of SMEs—agility, local expertise, and long-term commitment to Australian industry. If the government is serious about sovereign capability, it must look beyond paper registrations and actively support homegrown SMEs that drive economic growth and national resilience.

Unlike the multinational consulting behemoths, Australian SME consultancies: 

• Are embedded in the communities they serve. They understand the local business, policy, and regulatory landscape intimately, ensuring that solutions are tailored, practical, and implementable.
• Deliver expertise without conflicts of interest. Unlike large global firms that juggle public and private clients (often with competing interests), Australian SMEs are free from those entanglements, ensuring an unwavering commitment to the public good.
• Provide better value for money. Without excessive overheads, bloated executive salaries, or reliance on underpaid junior staff, SME consultancies operate leaner and more efficiently—delivering high-impact outcomes at a fraction of the cost.
• Uphold ethical and transparent service delivery. With reputations that rest on long-term trust rather than short-term profit, Australian SMEs take ethics and accountability seriously, ensuring that public funds are spent with integrity and purpose.

The Commonwealth now has a clear choice—does it allow fear to dictate policy, retreating into an insular, slow-moving bureaucracy? Or does it seize the opportunity to build a more ethical, capable, and cost-effective consulting ecosystem by engaging Australia’s best and brightest SMEs?

This moment calls for bold leadership. The government must consider:

• Reform Procurement Processes – Move away from outdated frameworks that favour size and global brand recognition over capability, ethics, and value-for-money.
• Prioritise Local, Ethical Expertise – Mandate greater engagement with Australian-owned consultancies that demonstrate genuine subject matter expertise and strong ethical frameworks.
• Break the Cartel Mentality – Reduce the automatic preference for a handful of global consulting giants and actively cultivate a competitive, diverse consulting landscape that includes high-performing SMEs.
• Measure Impact, Not Hours Billed – Shift the focus of consulting engagements towards tangible, measurable outcomes, ensuring that taxpayer dollars are spent on real impact rather than unnecessary reports and inflated fees.

The answer is not to reject consulting but to engage the right consultants—those with a stake in Australia’s success, those who deliver real value, and those who uphold the highest ethical standards. That means turning to sovereign, experienced Australian SMEs, who are ready to step up and serve.

The Commonwealth must not run from consulting—it must reclaim it. The time to act is now.