It took a pandemic to finally slow the hitherto remorseless rise of the big four consulting firms to the dominant position in Australian public affairs. Having grown in recent years to become one of the biggest sources of political donations while siphoning off billions in government contracts, Ernst & Young (EY), PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), KPMG and Deloitte all pulled their political funding back in 2019-20, but still made major contributions.

Hand that gives also receives: government-dependent sectors keep giving