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That comes through a salary and allowances for expenses. Yes, people need to be recompensed for doing their jobs. There needs to be a clear understanding that public office is for public benefit and not personal gain. What Australia needs is a stronger culture of integrity. If it is arrogant and greedy MPs rorting their allowances, then there are other avenues to fix it. If the problem is an ingrained culture of corruption, then an ICAC might be considered. Not only would the resourcing have to be substantial, but it would create a massive turf war with other agencies – and all of this without understanding the problem we are trying to solve. Singapore, ranked eighth, has a long-standing hardline law-enforcement body.Īustralia could never hope to have an agency of similar stature at the federal level. Of the 12 countries that currently rank above Australia on the Corruption Perception Index, only one has a national anti-corruption agency. Humiliation is a common outcome, but a conviction is rare. One is not that opportunities for corruption were ever-present, but that people took advantage of these opportunities – and even created them.Īn ICAC can only point the finger after the event. There are many explanations for this fall. Australia was ranked 13th out of nearly 170 countries in 2015, having fallen from eighth in 2010. Notwithstanding this, Australia has been slipping in Transparency International’s respected Corruption Perception Index. Australia does not have a culture of corruption, though it does have transgressions from time to time.Īustralia has processes for good administration and good procurement, solid administrative law and regulatory agencies that generally are not captured by the interests they regulate. Instead, we need to foster a culture of integrity rather than entitlement.Īustralians can pride themselves that they are not afflicted on a regular basis by corrupt politicians and officials gouging what they can from a hapless public. Why a federal ICAC won’t helpĪ federal ICAC won’t solve problems of greed within the current set of rules for MPs. However, a federal ICAC will not solve the sorts of problems Australian politicians have recently embroiled themselves in: wasting money riding in helicopters to a party function when they could have driven meeting with business contacts while impartially representing the government or claiming travel allowances for trips that do not on the surface meet the “pub test”. Calls for a federal Independent Commission against Corruption-like body are growing following Health Minister Sussan Ley standing aside while several of her travel entitlement claims are investigated.