PwC’s executives have learnt the hard way there’s no point dissembling now. It only took their CEO resigning and the firm cleaved apart – all while cycling through every corporate PR hired gun in Sydney and Melbourne – before landing on the best strategy: mumbling yeses and nos while backing steadily out the door.

Everyone with a brain has long been sceptical of the notion that preparing international tax structures to avoid a yet-to-be-announced Australian tax can be achieved without the involvement of PwC’s overseas operatives.