This whole thing seems like such a farce... The conservative side of politics in Australia likes to do a much smaller version of this to "save money" whenever they've been in opposition and then get back in to Government - and all it leads to every time is paying far more to have the same work done by the big consulting companies.

You hear stories like people being fired from their public service jobs, then being hired by the consulting firm and being back the next week, now with the consulting firm charging more than double what they were paid before for their time - and they're doing the exact same job they were doing...