Introduction to Corruption in Australia
Discuss about the Corruption and Confidence in Australia.
Corruption is said to exist at all levels of society and is defined as the misuse of entrusted power in order to achieve personal gain or benefits. It can take several types of forms and may affect the making of public policy or even the implementation of the public policy. It is often perceived as continuous undesirable behaviors, which entails improper conduct and maladministration. It prevails at several levels including corruption within the bureaucratic procedure, public sectors, administrative sectors and individual corruptive activities. Corruption affects both the private as well as the public sectors through misappropriation, bribery, nepotism, money laundering. The corrupt activities has an adverse effect on the communities, institutions and nations and such activities are prevalent only in places, nations or communities that are easily susceptible to corruption.
Australia, a prosperous nation with its high global standards is not as susceptible to corruption as other poor nations are which dismiss the conception that corruption is only associated with poor countries (Graycar and Monaghan 2015). However, in rich countries like Australia, corruption exists and affects governance, infrastructural development and the general economic conditions. Nonetheless, corruption in Australia is comparatively less common than in other countries, which is evident from its position in Transparency Internationals 2016 Corruption Perception Index where the country is in the 13th position out of 176 nations.
However, in 2012, Australia was ranked seventh in the Transparency Internationals 2016 Corruption Perception Index. The reason for such decline in the TI ranking is that the perception index does not reflect actual corruption findings. The perception might have been influenced by the discontentment of people in the Australian government with respect to illegal financial flow into the country, which the government has failed to deter. Although based on the international surveys, the country is said to be low in terms of corrupted activities but gradually the corruption level seems to be rising in the country.
Majority of the people believe that corruption in Australia exists in State, local and national level, particularly at the state government level. Corruption exists in the Australian political system resulting in decisions that is made in contrary to the interests of the electorate by the Federal and State Parliaments. The corruption within the political sector threatens the political processes of the country through the lobby groups and big corporate giants. This interference has resulted in actions that have detrimental impact on the economy, natural environment and social framework of the country.
Apart from traces of corruption within the political sector, there are less chances of coming across risk corruption within the Australian police system. Public perceptions about the country being least corrupted has been significantly drawn from within the business community which provides a ground for not giving priority to the issues related to corruption. However, McAllister (2014) believes that such public opinions and perceptions cannot be said to be a complete guide for development of government or any legal policy within the field. For instance, like institutional sexual abuse or family violence incidents are often not reported, are concealed, or are framed as normal circumstances. This regulatory attitude towards corruption demonstrates a similar attitude amongst the law enforcement officers, public officials and third parties like the professional groups, financial institutions (accountants, lawyers, etc) that have turned into the facilitators of corruption within the Australian territory.
Perception and Reality of Corruption in Australia
On the contrary, Iyer and Samociuk (2016) argues that while obtaining public services in Australia, very few organizations have encountered bribery where in most cases, private sector officials are more significantly involved than the public sector officials. Moreover, Williams (2015) states that business in Australia does not consider corruption as an impediment to its operations instead both the foreign and domestic companies operating in Australia enjoy great flexibility with respect to their licensing process, given that the businesses rely on the strong rule of law that aims at safeguarding the companies against corruption, is in place.
Williams (2015) states that corruption activities exists within the Australian mining and coal industry that has been duly reported and are subjected to constant investigation. This is evident from the report made by the NSW Independent Commission against Corruption in 2015 regarding exploration of licenses using corrupted means by the NuCoal Company, which led to court proceedings wherein the court suspended the licenses of NuCoal Company.
However, the anti-corruption legislation of the country is broad where the anti-corruption laws have been enacted at the State, territory (regional) and Federal (national) levels. The enactment of the Criminal Code at the Federal level deals with active as well as passive bribery acts committed by the Commonwealth and foreign public officials. It also deals with extortion, attempted corruption and money laundering as criminal offenses and the statute is applicable to organizations as well as individuals. In case of acts of bribery that is committed in the private sector is dealt with by regional and state laws that criminalizes both passive and active bribery especially those involving accounting form of offenses.
The other forms of relevant legislations include Anti-money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act, the Public Service Act and the Corporations Act [2001] (Cth). Williams (2015) states that often facilitation payments are considered illegal in Australia as such payments are often coated with bribery and are tainted with corrupted activities. Persons who are convicted of committing corrupted activities are subjected to a maximum penalty of 10 years and/or a fine up to AUD 1.1 million. In case of business that are involved in any corrupt practices, the penalty shall be a fine up to AUD 17million. It includes an amount that is three times the value of the undue benefit that has been obtained by business or 10 percent of the yearly turnover of the company at the time the company is alleged to have been involved in corrupted activities.
The anti-corruption system includes the UN Convention against Corruption [UNCAC] that has led the country to introduce certain mandatory requirements as well as some non-mandatory requirements that have been set out in the provisions of the UNCAC as effective measures to overcome corruption. McAllister (2014) states that the strategies adopted by the Australian government is based on four essential elements such as constitutional safeguards, criminalization of corruption, transparency and accountability as well as technical assistance and international cooperation.
The constitutional safeguards include its constitutional democracy that is based on the Westminster System to ensure checks and balance is in place to prevent the country against corruption. The rule of law and separation of powers within the constitution is said to safeguard against corruption prevalent in Australia, further ensuring fundamental protections for human rights. In regards to the element of Accountability and transparency, the government contends that no single body shall be accountable for any corrupted acts; hence, a wide range of governmental initiatives, which strives to ensure transparency and accountability, had been undertaken to fortify the constitutional foundation. This distribution of responsibility is perceived as significant measure adopted by the Australian government as it strengthens the checks and balances.
As mentioned above that corruption in Australia exists predominantly in the private sectors compared to the public sectors, hence, the Federal government regulates several aspects of the private sector. Therefore, the Commonwealth government has enacted statutes like Corporations Act 2001 to regulate the operations of the organizations. Similarly, the enactment of the Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 led to the establishment of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission [ASIC]. In order to prevent corruption within the public sector, the State/Regional and Federal government equally regulates the public sectors where the states have independent anti-corruption commissions or police integrity bodies such as (New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, etc) (Iyer and Samociuk 2016).
The government has empowered the pubic to evaluate government decisions thus, signifying a broad comprehensive system of administrative law. The other significant governmental strategy that is important to prevent corruption is to ensure that public officials behave appropriately and are held responsible for their actions. Corruption is a form of transnational offence, which has no loyalty to or respect for any boundaries, nations or sovereignty, hence, it might affect nations all across the world (McAllister 2014). Therefore, it is appropriate to adopt a collaborative approach to combat corruption. This requirement has been satisfied by Australia due to which it has ratified UNCAC, which is an important instrument that aims at combating corruption. Furthermore, the enactment of the Extradition Act 1988, proceeds of Crime Act 2002 has enabled the country to cooperate with other nations to investigate, prevent and prosecute offenders.
From the above discussion, it can be inferred that Australia, though, has been perceived as one of the least corrupted countries, the country uses various strategies to detect, address and prevent corruption based on the above mentioned essential factors. It is a fact that despite the legislations in place, they cannot be said to provide permanent solution to the issue of corruption. The Anti-corruption bodies have been established to address serious issues of corruption and have been designed to deter corruption, ensuring reintegration of public confidence and trust in the public administration and government. International cooperation and technical assistance combined with strong political will at the domestic level shall enhance the capacity of the nation to deter corruption.
References
Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006
Australian Securities and Investments Commission [ASIC]
Corporations Act [2001] (Cth)
Crime Act 2002
Extradition Act 1988
Graycar, A. and Monaghan, O., 2015. Rich country corruption. International Journal of Public Administration, 38(8), pp.586-595.
Iyer, N. and Samociuk, M., 2016. Fraud and corruption: Prevention and detection. Routledge.
McAllister, I., 2014. Corruption and confidence in Australian political institutions. Australian Journal of Political Science, 49(2), pp.174-185.
Public Service Act 1999
Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001
UN Convention against Corruption [UNCAC]
Williams, R., 2015. Investigating corruption, implementing reform: the Australian case. Australian Studies, 8.
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