The government has a big four problem it can no longer ignore

Anyhow, these two kids, the Issa brothers, are in big, big, big trouble. I truly hope their mum and their dad send them to their rooms for a really long time before the police get the chance to send them somewhere else.

Here they are, Paul, 21, and Phillip, 25. They have both been charged over the alleged unauthorised access or modification of restricted data. Here's an even creepier thing: the younger one has also been charged with using a carriage service to publish personal data in a way that is menacing or harassing. What is the matter with you, man?

These two allegedly thought it would be OK to access Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's confidential banking details. This was reportedly while Paul, a graduate of one of the big four consulting firms EY, was a contractor at the Commonwealth Bank.

Don't know what his bro does - but I know this. These boys are alleged idiots and now alleged criminals and I truly hope their parents are ashamed of them. I know their parents are ashamed of them. I know because any parent would be.

Part of me wonders what the hell they thought they were (allegedly) doing. Were they hoping to discover OnlyFans payments from the PM's account? Or money spent at Coles or Woolies? My hope is that the closest they got to discovering any kind of unusual activity was secret donations to We Rate Dogs in the hope of getting the First Dog Toto a better than perfect 20/10. And I'm pretty confident that Albo does Aldi. I mean who wants to pay 50 bucks for 50 dishwasher tablets when you can pay just one-tenth of that. Good. Different. Cheaper.

I'm going to assume that the younger Issa had a good track record before he fell into the pit of ethiclessness. I'm guessing that's what happens when you end up getting a gig at one of the big four consulting firms. I asked Helen Bird, a governance expert at Swinburne University, what the hell was going on at these places.

She has strong views on confidentiality breaches. We all do. But she would very much like to know why two juniors got sacked immediately while a senior bloke at KPMG got to hold on to his job for quite a while.

It took him three strikes to get out. These young people, who I'm pretty sure have wrecked their lives, were out first time.

Bird says the deep-seated problem in consultancy firms is this - a huge desire to put profit before professional service. The firms are now talking about increasing the level of education for those who work there.

But as Bird asks: "Wouldn't you be doing this already?"

Instead, she says, the firms put their own needs for income ahead of professional obligation. And it's weird that there is an entire generation of workers at these organisations who've been behaving badly for years, ripping the government off, ripping universities off and ripping the rest of us off.

Time for new brooms. Time for Deborah O'Neill to be in charge.

Jenna Price is a guest Echidna and a regular columnist.

HAVE YOUR SAY: Given what we know so far, would you have sacked the boys for their first offence? Can we dump consultancies from every layer of Australian life? And if you worked for any of the big four, what kind of ethical education did you have? Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au

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THEY SAID IT: "I've said before, it escalated through many different ways. The Allens investigation didn't conclude ... the investigation was ongoing, and that ongoing investigation brought to light evidence that there was a third issue, which I understand, subsequent to me leaving, has has become public ... the Optus Telstra issue ... that was that was the day, Senator. I realised that there was there was things here that could have been found earlier." Former KPMG chief executive officer Andrew Yates

YOU SAID IT: John asked if your drinking habits had changed over time. Does Australia have an unhealthy relationship with alcohol? Have you ever participated in Dry July?

DJ said he decided to "test" giving it away for a while. "That was when I was 75, three years ago. After a full nine months of (actually) easy abstinence, I felt no healthier, no fitter, no happier! So, yes, I am back to enjoying my bottle of red a day, and, no, the alcohol-free wines just do not cut it! But I did always have my liver checked annually and am a lucky one that tolerates that quantity of alcohol without harm."

And Patricia just isn't all that interested in drinking: "Over the course of the year, I might have half a dozen drinks. Birthdays, Christmas, occasional outing. At a funeral (now more likely than a wedding), half a glass to toast the person. Better for my health and definitely better for my budget."

Not all non- or low-alcohol beverages are created equal, writes old Donald. "Attempts at non-alcoholic spirits, especially scotch, are amongst the biggest con jobs I know of. They are hopeless and overpriced to blazes."

Peter says his father's heavy drinking deterred his four children from alcohol almost entirely. "'l'll have a cider now, but rarely. But in 50 years of not drinking, I've never encountered any difficulty or pressure. Being a secular teetotaller has always been a viable choice."

And yes to Dry July from Mike, who tried it a couple of years ago with his wife. "Kept off the grog for 10 months but fell off the wagon when a friend from the UK came for a visit. Six months later decided to give it away for good and still haven't touched a drop. Don't miss it a bit and finding life is much better without it. Plus the health and financial benefits are a bonus."