Definition of Corruption
Corruption is one of the common unethical behaviours in countries across the world. Describe the different forms of corruption in your home country and describe the strategies that can be implemented by your government to minimise corruption.
According to McAllister (2014), corruption can be defined in several ways but one of the most commonly used definition is that “corruption is misuse or abuse of public offices or positions for individual gain”. There are several forms of corruption such as embezzlement of public funds, bribery, theft, cronyism and nepotism among others. Both public and private sectors of the Australian industry are affected by corruption. Rossi (2010) says, corruption can be in small “goodies” or even misuse of large company funds. On a deeper exploration other types of corruption include institutional, incidental, systemic, bureaucratic and political corruption.
The level and corruption incidences may be due to the following factors
- Restrictions of the officials handling public offices positions.
- Level and size of the benefits.
- Risk level of the corruption deals
- Bargaining power of the corruptee and the corruptor.
Corruption is a menace to the economies and social structures of all countries in the world. Though, there are several variations in the corruption extent and severity, this is a disease that affects political governances, misuses public funds and interferes with markets (Riley, 2016). To a larger extent, corruption hinders economic and social development, hinders democracy and destroys social justice.
Shafie (2014) says, that as years have gone by, so has corruption continued to spread and occur in different forms. With nature corruption occurs from petty to grand or incidental to systemic regarding the scope. This occurs mostly in public offices where funds are exploited by individuals. On most occasions, government offices are the most corrupt and at times agencies are used to help the government make corrupt deals. Any strategies that discourage corruption must look at the range, impact, causes and the environment where corruption is rampant (Kapeli, 2015). The political environment determines the link of corruption, well-structured crimes and capital laws.
Graph indicating progress of corruption rates
Source: ( Trading Economics, 2018)
Figure one: Graph indicating corruption ranks from 2008 to 2018
Figure two: The different forms of Corruption
Source: (McAllister, 2014)
Bribing officials in public offices is common in most organizations and corporations in Australia. This is when individuals give or promise to offer valuables to a top ranking or any official in an organization to gain influence or just obtain performance from an official (Rock, 2009). This is the most common and direct form of corruption in the country and one of the most dangerous in the entire world. This has gone to greater extends where foreign office holders of big companies have to be bribed to gain favors and ensure easy operations. To counter this type of corruption it is essential that we do away with bribing foreign officials. The Attorney department state that foreign bribery is a big threat to the rule of law and leads to ineffective resource allocation (Purcell, 2016). It leads to poor governance and slow economic developments. Just as any country it is essential that Australia develop ways deal with cross border bribery. The G20 officials’ main aim is to combat bribery. This organization main agenda is to look for ways that can easily combat bribery. Appropriate ways that help investigate, prosecute and prevent bribery helps make effective company operations (Perito, 2011). This helps the private sector industries be confident enough to develop and expand projects.
Extent and Severity of Corruption in Australia
Figure three: An illustration of a Bribery in Public offices
Source: (Perito, 2011)
In most corrupt organizations, conflicts of interest are done poorly especially when awarding contracts or tenders to entrepreneurs. Sometime ago, the former chairperson of the corruption and crime commission said that many people with influence in the offices of the public could easily identify a conflict of interest and easily did it behind doors (Bell, 2016). The Victorian Ombudsman also states that despite the several reports they had received and done in their offices, conflicts of interest still a big problem in many offices and this has been a trend especially for those offices holding tenders. The people responsible to award contracts sometimes do not consider conflicts or even take corrective measure that protect them or their organizations (Riley, 2016). Sometimes this becomes personal and damages the reputation of the organization, lead to political problems, and lead to high financial costs or even high litigation costs.
It is now clear that conflicts of interest especially when awarding contacts in most organizations is always done improperly and with corruption at least in every organization in Australia (Kapeli, 2015). Reports from anti-corruption agencies, auditors, regulators, professionals, investigators and compliance experts have always indicated the negative effects of the conflicts of interests especially in contract awarding. It is vital that people deal with the conflicts of interest in a more appropriate manner.
Extortion is considered a crime in most states of Australia and even the world. Victims found extorting public funds are fined, incarcerated, paroled or they repay the victimized (Shafie, 2014). Using a top public position to extort a person to gain profits or benefits is considered to be extortion under official right color.
Extortion is legal defined differently in the various states of Australia. When extortion is done by a public official then this is considered crime of extortion while when done by a private individual or organization it is considered to be Blackmail (Rossi, 2010). Additionally, when this is done in interstate businesses where extortion acts are done by the use of computers, phones, mails, internet or physically this can be considered a federal crime since it is a corruption act.
In Australia, Tipping is not done or expected since the government protects its workers’ rights by setting a minimum payment wage. This is evaluated regularly each year, and last year the set wage was at $17.80 for an hour and for casual workers this was at $22.120. The set wages are standard for the various organizations (Bell, 2016). Tipping is not even expected in restaurants or even cafes especially even some of the people are hosting parties or so. Even taxi drivers or boy deliveries should not experience tipping at any circumstance (Shafie, 2014). Sometimes most people tend to round up the amount needed for work done since they feel the job was done perfectly and will not mind letting the worker keep the rest of change.
Types of Corruption
Tipping is not always a tradition especially for someone providing a service like a hotel porter. In most Casinos and some organized institutions, tipping is prohibited since it is considered a corruption act (Rock, 2009). n Tasmania, the Gaming control act of 1993, section 56-4 indicates that it is a must for every employee to hold a special workers license and the worker should not accept or solicit any tip or any other benefits from the gaming patron while playing a game. Tipping is become a huge concern in Australia.
The government of Australia has already identified some of the huge corrosive impacts of Corruption on the communities and the society at large. It hinders democracy, distorts the market forces and facilitates organized crimes (Graycar, 2015). Corruption is disrespect the human rights. Some of the ways through which corruption can be effectively minimized in Australia include the following:
Empowering citizens by initiating their demands for anti-corruption to the government and holding the government accountable is a necessary approach that helps build trust between the government and its citizens. Activities such as community monitoring help detect corruption, fund leakages and improved quality of services (Kimeu, 2014). During elections, various institutions come together to ensure that the public picture is portrayed accurately and the elections are done fairly and squarely. This empowers citizens and helps detect the candidates responsible in misusing public funds.
Graycar (2015) says, the law should be put to use especially for those people found with cases of corruption. They should be punished extremely so that they serve as examples to those people who intend to engage in corruption acts. A strong legal structure should be enforced with an effective court. The civil communities could initiate anti-corruption campaigns.
Without access to national or international finances, corrupt officials are not able to loot assets and hide in the dark (Purcell, 2016). Institutions especially huge finance centers should initiate programs that reduce illicit fund absorption in the various banks or corporations. To reduce foreign corruption, anti-money laundering schemes should be done and the countries involved should create a good financial plan that reduce corruption. According to Riley (2016), the government should approve legislation that companies must disclose details about the company owners and board of directors to help minimize corruption.
Conclusion
There are no clear ways to ending corruption but there are various ways that can help reduce the impacts of corruption in the society. The government will is considered a necessary approach that can help lead to a change in the environment faced with corruption. Though some governments have not indicated corruption in their civic agendas they are now recognizing corruption as a serious issue. Creating anti-corruption campaigns is quite difficult and creating reforms on corruption is also a big issue. There are several disparities in this organizations. Reforms to help prevent the long-term effects of corruption have actually had difficulties especially when they are about to be implemented. The Australian government should prioritize and recognize corruption as a big issue in the society. The government should obtain assistance and develop ways that help mitigate corruption in the society.
Trading Economics, 2018. Trading Economics. [Online]
Available at: https://tradingeconomics.com/
[Accessed 25 May 2018].
Bell, R. L. &. P., 2016. Sports Betting-Motivated Corruption in Australia: An Under-Studied Phenomenon. International Journal of Social Science Research, 4(1), pp. 14-18.
Graycar, A. M. &. A., 2015. Making Corruption Disappear in Local Government. Public Integrity, Volume 18, pp. 46-54.
Kapeli, N. S., 2015. Insight of Anti-Corruption Initiatives in Malaysia. Procedia Economics and Finance, Volume 31, pp. 525-534.
Kimeu, S., 2014. Corruption as a challenge to global ethics: the role of Transparency International. Journal of Global Ethics, 10(2), pp. 232-235.
McAllister, I., 2014. Corruption and confidence in Australian political institutions. Australian Journal of Political Science, 49(2), pp. 176-180.
Perito, D. B. a. R., 2011. Police Corruption, Washington: United States Institute of Peace.
Purcell, A. J., 2016. Australian local government corruption and misconduct. Journal of Financial Crime, 23(1), pp. 103-110.
Riley, P., 2016. Corruption and Anticorruption: The Case of India. Journal of Developing Societies, 32(1), pp. 74-79.
Rock, M., 2009. Corruption and Democracy. The Journal of Development Studies, 45(1), pp. 60-65.
Rossi, N. M. &. M., 2010. The Perception of Corruption. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 22(1), pp. 120-128.
Shafie, Z. O. &. R., 2014. Corruption – Why do they do it?. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 164(31), pp. 248-252
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