Incident
Incidents · Deloitte Australia, 2025
Deloitte Australia agreed to a partial refund after errors in a A$440,000 report
A consulting report for an Australian department was republished after incorrect footnotes, and Deloitte agreed to repay the final instalment of the contract. The public record supports that much. It does not publish a single figure for the refund in the sources used here.
What the Guardian reported
On 6 October 2025 The Guardian reported that Deloitte would partly refund the Australian government for a A$440,000 report that contained errors, after Deloitte acknowledged using generative AI to help produce it. The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations commissioned the review of its targeted compliance framework in December 2024. The report was first published on 4 July 2025 and re-uploaded after the Australian Financial Review reported errors, including nonexistent references.
A department spokesperson told The Guardian that Deloitte had confirmed some footnotes and references were incorrect, that the substance of the review was unchanged, and that there were no changes to the recommendations. The department said Deloitte would repay the final instalment, and that the amount would be made public after the transaction was finalised. This page therefore does not state a dollar figure for the refund.
What the updated report disclosed
The Guardian reported that the updated review’s appendix says part of the report used a generative AI toolchain “licensed by DEWR and hosted on DEWR’s Azure tenancy,” based on Azure OpenAI GPT-4o. Deloitte did not say that AI caused the original errors. It said the updates do not affect the substantive findings or recommendations. University of Sydney academic Christopher Rudge, who had flagged the errors, described them to The Guardian as hallucinations, and said the new version replaced fabricated references with several different sources.
The Guardian also reported that the AFR had found nonexistent references, including to professors at the University of Sydney and Lund University, and a made-up reference to the court decision in Deanna Amato v Commonwealth. Deloitte’s update amended the summary of the Amato proceeding, which had contained errors. AP similarly reported a partial refund and errors that included a fabricated quotation from a federal court judgment and references to nonexistent academic papers. ABC News reported on 9 October 2025 that Deloitte had been ordered to issue a partial refund; the ABC page does not add an amount.
Which of those errors a reference checker can see
A reference to a nonexistent academic paper is the kind of line RefCheck checks against Crossref, OpenAlex, and the other scholarly databases. A made-up account of a court case is not. RefCheck does not search judgments. Pasting the Amato sentence into it would not be a meaningful test.
RefCheck was not used on the Deloitte report. A partial refund is a commercial outcome, not a bibliographic verdict. The useful split is the one the coverage already makes: some footnotes named research that was not there, and a court summary had to be rewritten.
Typical cases
A footnote to a paper the author did not write
The Guardian said the AFR found references to nonexistent reports by professors in Sydney and Lund. That is a scholarly reference check, which is what RefCheck does.
A court summary with errors
The Amato proceeding is a judgment, not a Crossref record. RefCheck will not confirm or refute a summary of a case.
An appendix that names the model
The Guardian quoted the appendix: Azure OpenAI GPT-4o, on the department’s own Azure tenancy. Naming the tool is not the same as saying every error came from it. Deloitte did not say that, according to the same article.
Sources
- The Guardian, 6 October 2025 — Partial refund of a A$440,000 report, the DEWR statement, the Azure OpenAI GPT-4o disclosure, and the Amato correction.
- AP, October 2025 — AP’s account of a partial refund and errors that included a fabricated court quotation and references to nonexistent research.
- ABC News, 9 October 2025 — ABC reported that Deloitte had been ordered to issue a partial refund. The page does not state the refund amount.
This page only states what these sources say. It does not say RefCheck was used on the document, and a later correction is not summarized here unless one of these sources describes it.
How it works
Three steps for this kind of reference
01PasteOne reference per line, or a numbered list. Keep the authors, title, year, and the DOI or arXiv id if you have them.
02Cross-checkAcademic references in a report can be matched to Crossref and OpenAlex. A summary of a court case cannot.
03Read the verdictReal, real with errors, likely fabricated, or unconfirmed. A corrected citation is shown when the record disagrees, and a retraction is flagged when one is on record.
Frequently asked questions
How much did Deloitte refund?
The Guardian said Deloitte would repay the final instalment of the A$440,000 contract and that the amount would be published after the transaction. ABC confirmed a partial refund without stating a figure. This page does not add a number.
Did Deloitte say the errors were caused by GPT-4o?
No. The Guardian reported that the updated appendix disclosed use of Azure OpenAI GPT-4o, and that Deloitte did not attribute the original errors to AI.
Did the recommendations change?
The department told The Guardian that the recommendations did not change. That is the department’s statement, not an independent re-check of the analysis.
Could RefCheck have checked the whole report?
It could be used on scholarly references that look like journal or conference citations. It does not check summaries of court decisions. It was not run on this report.
What does a check cost?
3 free reference checks without an account, plus 5 more free after you sign in. Then each reference costs 1 AILatest credit. Failed lookups are refunded. Credits last 1 year and the expiry extends on every top-up. Packs are $1.99 for 200, $4.99 for 600, and $9.99 for 1,500. There is no subscription.
Cite only what's real.
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