The Victorian government has spent more than $670 million (US$451.7 million) on consultants over the past five years, paying a firm embroiled in a national tax scandal almost $80 million (US$54 million). The state Auditor-General’s Office released the new collated figures as a federal Senate committee investigates the integrity of major consultancy firms after the leaking…

Commentary Victoria’s Parliamentary Budget Office’s (PBO) latest report (pdf) has revealed that the Labor government, who set it up, did not even use it to cost its 2022 election promises. The report notes that “There appears to be a disconnect between the Treasurer’s 2016 speech recommending the bill to parliament, in which he outlined his…

The Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) has spent more than $40,000 on a lawyer’s travel fees in the past three years, an expense that continues to draw the ire of some elected officials. An attorney representing the OCFA was compensated $40,425 for billed travel between Los Angeles and Orange County from 2017 to 2020. The rate is…