If there’s one thing everyone knows about Paul Howes it’s that he fights for Australian jobs. In fact, he made such a career of it – as the pugnacious former head of the Australian Workers’ Union – it was, some years back, the only thing he was known for.

On Tuesday, this masthead revealed KPMG’s 2025-26 plans involve halving the amount of consulting work done by the firm’s local employees. Instead, the firm wanted to promote the use of lower-cost workers in Australia and offshore in places such as India and Malaysia.