How We Think

Australia faces significant public policy challenges that require dynamic, bold and defensible solutions. Just over a year ago, Synergy Law was founded to practice law with the freedom and flexibility to challenge the norm. Today, the Synergy Law team has grown to include twenty curious, iterative, and bold people who have used their knowledge and skills to uplift the capability and capacity of the clients they have worked with.

Corporate interest in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) space is nothing new – it’s been well documented for over a decade now. Methods to embed corporate environmental responsibility and transparency are increasingly being built into company objects and directors’ duties. Both shareholders and the public demand broader and deeper reporting on corporate environmental decisions and their impact, pressing executives to mitigate the ecological and economic risks posed by climate change.

Although the policies and programs of Budget 2022-23 will not be known until Tuesday night, the direction of the Government is well established. A combined $1.3 billion worth of spending cuts were promised during the election, with the PBO Report outlining that $500 million worth of savings would be found from cutting expenditure on external labour for hire and consultants. Given internal legal budgets will not be expanded, we must ask ourselves, how can we find uplift?

As we approach Budget 2022/23, we are all aware of the fiscal challenge that faces the Commonwealth. To deliver on what was promised to the Australian people during the Election, the Commonwealth must find efficiencies in its programs and policies.

Public/Private Partnerships (PPPs) can be so much more than the traditional infrastructure projects we typically associate with that term. Now more than ever, strong partnerships between the Australian Public Service (APS) and the private sector are essential to enable the core capability and capacity to be uplifted across the public service – especially with the renewed focus from Government to bring work “back in-house” to the APS.

In recent years we've seen an encouraging downward trend in the volume of vacant Commonwealth-leased office space. This indicates that the Commonwealth’s leasing footprint is being used relatively efficiently, however, there is an opportunity now to continue to capitalise on this positive trend by further considering: setting specific targets to work towards, forward planning leasing options, and how fit-out choices and fit-out guidelines may help.