EXCLUSIVE
A Greens senator has been forced to take a humiliating step back after questioning government officials over a missing $100 million payment, which turned out to be just $100,000.
An outraged senator Barbara Pocock tirelessly sought answers over the alleged nine-figure payment she said was worth “1,000 years of nurses’ work” during a parliamentary committee meeting on Monday.
Pocock accused government department heads of paying the huge $100 million fee to big four financial services firms KPMG “to preserve a relationship with a large consulting firm.”
And she was outraged that Department of Finance Undersecretary Richard Windeyer simply couldn’t answer her questions about the staggering payout.
He repeatedly told her he was unaware of the details of the payment, prompting the “problematic” senator to criticize her “minimalist” response.
Senator Barbara Pocock (left, with Greens leader Adam Bandt) was relentless in her search for answers about the payment she said was “worth 1,000 years of nurses’ work.”
But about three hours into Monday’s Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services hearing, it became clear that the senator’s alleged $100 million “improper payment” never existed.
Instead, the entire contract is worth $100 million, but the ‘improper payment’ Pocock was questioning the bureaucrat about actually amounted to $100,000.
He later attempted to clarify, saying: ‘I just wanted to clarify something regarding the contract I talked about.
‘KPMG’s contract with Defense has a total value of $100 million, but the payment made to preserve a relationship or upfront, and where key milestones had not been adequately met, was around $100,000.
“I just wanted to clarify those numbers.”
But despite having egg on his face, Pocock bizarrely shared his accusations about paying $100 million into his X account at 1:00 pm on Monday.
‘It is disturbing to hear today at the inquiry hearing about an almost total lack of oversight in the delivery of contracts by the big four consultants, particularly those lucrative Defense contracts. “KPMG was paid $100 million for work that in some cases was not delivered,” he wrote.
The post was removed at 3.30pm on Tuesday following questions from Daily Mail Australia.
But a number of left-wing accounts were still sharing video of the moment she torched officials at the time of publication.
KPMG has previously rejected claims that it was paid for works it did not complete
A spokesperson for Ms Pocock later told Daily Mail Australia that she “had a lot of detailed information before her during the inquiry hearing and, in trying to clarify the mismanagement of the contracts, misstated the figure by saying ‘one hundred-million’.” when he meant ‘one hundred thousand’.
“Fortunately, he was able to correct the record as soon as he realized the error.”
Pocock had previously questioned whether it was “unethical” for a government department to “retrospectively adjust a project description or design to justify a payment to a consultant when the original terms and design have not been met.”
“This is 100 million dollars, which is equivalent to 1,000 years of nursing work in a single payment,” he said.
“It’s a huge amount of money… and you’re not aware of a $100 million improper payment… that really worries me.”
Mr. Windeyer said: “Senator, I am not trying for a moment to downplay what you are talking about.”
As he tried to give an answer, Ms. Pocock interrupted him and said, “I’m really sorry for you in a new role, but I’m hearing a very administrative and technical response to this issue.”
“It’s a minimalist answer.”
KPMG has previously rejected claims that it was paid for works it did not complete.
“These accusations have absolutely no basis,” a spokesperson said.
“KPMG strongly rejects any claims of wrongdoing and can confirm that Defense has not paid a single dollar more than it should have for our work on the One Defense Data project.”