Queensland government’s in-house consulting practice gathering steam

Queensland Government Consulting Services (QGCS) – the state equivalent of the growing federal version – is ramping up following the appointment of Giselle Hodgson as inaugural boss last year.

Hodgson, the former chief operating officer for Deloitte’s consulting business, came on board QGSC as managing director last November following the division’s earlier launch within the Queensland Treasury Corporation in a bid to slash external spending.

To fund the establishment, recruitment and operating costs of Queensland Government Consulting Services, a budget of around $15 million has been freed up over a two-year period.

Hodgsonhas since been joined by an accelerating flow of fellow Big Four alumni as executive directors, including ex-Deloitte colleague Andrew Dick, former KPMG pair James Mathews and Fiona Merkel, and Lachlan Smith, who was previously a partner at Scyne.

Giselle Hodgson
Hodgson herself brings two decades worth of consulting experience to the table, having kicked off her career at Accenture before then joining Deloitte in 2009 following six years with Queensland Rail. She was later appointed as the national lead partner for the firm’s consulting wing Monitor Deloitte, then followed her consulting COO role as leader for operational efficiency & resilience.

Andrew Dick
Joining Hodgson in recent months as a QGCS executive director is fellow Monitor Deloitte veteran and former Brisbane office colleague Andrew Dick, who altogether spent a decade and a half in strategy & operations at the Big Four firm while ultimately rising to principal. Earlier, he gained experience at local corporate governance & risk advisory Effective Governance.

James Mathews
Mathews meanwhile crosses from KPMG, where he was a principal director working in the areas of economic and government advisory for close to a decade and a half. Prior to KPMG, Mathews spent over six years at public policy advisory SGS Economics and Planning, and has had a long involvement with the Property Council of Australia, including as chair of its Committee for Cities.

Fiona Merkel
A healthcare sector specialist, Fiona Merkel likewise joins QGCS after the best part of a decade and a half at KPMG, including the past five years as a principal. Merkel started her career in nursing and later spent eight as a clinical redesign facilitator for Queensland Health while becoming an expert in Lean Six Sigma, before then joining KPMG’s healthcare improvement practice in 2013.

Lachlan Smith
Smith joins GGCS after previously spending four years between PwC and Scyne Advisory, crossing to the latter as a partner upon the fire sale of the former’s government & public sector practice. Prior to switching to advisory in 2021, he worked for five years in senior strategy roles at the NRL, before which he spent over a decade in policy and economics with the Queensland government.

Curbing external consulting spend

In a party-line reversal to federal political ideology, where the Labor government has been on a mission to reduce the nation’s consulting bill and established its own in-house advisory AGC, the victorious Liberal National Party went to the last Queensland state election vowing to avert some $6.8 billion in future spending on advisors over four years by building up public sector capacity.