tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/institutional-corruption-9530/articlesInstitutional corruption – The Conversation2022-05-19T20:02:33Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1834412022-05-19T20:02:33Z2022-05-19T20:02:33Z5 charts show how trust in Australia’s leaders and institutions has collapsed<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464216/original/file-20220519-21-7e2k0p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4997%2C2472&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Whatever the result of the 2022 election, one thing is clear: many Australians are losing faith that their social institutions serve their interests. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.australianleadershipindex.org/leadership-for-the-greater-good-a-national-conversation-about-leadership-in-australia/">annual survey</a> of 4,000 Australians about leadership for the greater good shows the gulf between what the community expects and what they perceive.</p>
<p>Leaders and institutions are now widely seen as more concerned with their own interests, not the public interest. </p>
<h2>The rise and fall of leadership for the good</h2>
<p>We’ve been tracking public perceptions of leadership and integrity since 2018 to compile the <a href="https://www.australianleadershipindex.org/">Australian Leadership Index</a>. It covers four major institutional sectors – the government, the public sector, private enterprise, and the non-government sector.</p>
<p>In 2020, with the pandemic, public perceptions of leadership across these sectors rose. In 2021, however, three sectors have declined significantly. Only the public sector has sustained favourable perceptions it serves the public interest, thanks largely to the performance of public health institutions throughout the pandemic. </p>
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<h2>Federal government has fallen furthest</h2>
<p>The steepest falls in perceptions of leadership have been for the federal government. Its index score – a measure of overall leadership perceptions – fell from from a high of +17 in late 2020 to -15 in late 2021. </p>
<p>In essence, this score means most people by the end of last year didn’t believe the government was committed to the public interest or showed leadership for the public good. That’s a stunning shift from generally positive public perceptions in 2020.</p>
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<h2>Faith in public integrity has collapsed</h2>
<p>The steep decline in perceptions of the federal government’s leadership has been matched by the collapse of perceptions of public integrity. </p>
<p>As outlined by South Australia’s <a href="https://www.icac.sa.gov.au/newsletter/public-integrity-is-great-but-what-is-it">Independent Commission Against Corruption</a>, public integrity comprises several core themes: public trust, public interest, morality, impartiality, transparency and accountability. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/perceptions-of-corruption-are-growing-in-australia-and-its-costing-the-economy-176562">Perceptions of corruption are growing in Australia, and it's costing the economy</a>
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<p>Perceptions of government integrity fell sharply in 2021 across indicators such as morality and ethics, transparency and accountability. Expectations of public integrity also increased. </p>
<p>The following chart shows public perceptions and expectations of the federal government’s morality and ethics since Scott Morrison became prime minister in August 2018. It is indicative of the trends observed for all other indicators of government integrity.</p>
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<p>Given the corrosive effects of declining public trust in the institutions of democracy, reversing these perceptions should be a priority for whichever party is in government.</p>
<h2>Most want environmental action</h2>
<p>Action on environment and climate are becoming key drivers of public perceptions of institutional leadership across all sectors. </p>
<p>The following graph shows how institutions across all sectors perform in terms of creating positive environmental outcomes and the influence of their environmental performance on public perceptions of their leadership. </p>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Australian Leadership Index</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Our results show national and multinational businesses, trade unions and the federal government are judged as very poor environmental performers. By contrast, small and medium enterprises, charities, education institutions and charities are perceived to be performing strongly.</p>
<h2>Health workers still heroes</h2>
<p>Since the Australian Leadership Index started collecting data in 2018, the public health sector has consistently rated positively. In 2020 these perceptions spiked even higher. They remained high throughout 2021.</p>
<p>Of all the institutions the index measures, only charities are on par in terms of perceived leadership for the public good. </p>
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<h2>Ideas of leadership have changed</h2>
<p>Perceptions of what leadership for the greater good looks like appear to have shifted between 2020 and 2021. </p>
<p>In 2020, the focus was on security, protection and institutional responsiveness to the needs of society (health care, financial support and so on). In 2021, there was a much greater concern for the processes and principles that inform and govern the actions of authorities and institutions. </p>
<p>The principles of public integrity – morality and ethics, transparency, accountability and concern for the public interest – now trump security in community assessments of leadership for the greater good.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/equality-and-fairness-vaccines-against-this-pandemic-of-mistrust-160100">Equality and fairness: vaccines against this pandemic of mistrust</a>
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<p>It is timely to reflect on the state of our social institutions and to have a national conversation about what our institutions could or should look like to promote flourishing and help rather than harm the public good. </p>
<p>Whoever forms government next week would do well to take note of community aspirations and expectations for social institutions that serve the interests of the many, not the few.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183441/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samuel Wilson receives philanthropic funding for the Australian Leadership Index.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vlad Demsar receives philanthropic funding for the Australian Leadership Index.</span></em></p>Whoever forms Australia’s next government must work to reverse declining public trust in our institutions and leaders.Samuel Wilson, Associate Professor of Leadership, Swinburne University of TechnologyMelissa A. Wheeler, Senior Lecturer, Department of Management and Marketing, Swinburne University of TechnologyVlad Demsar, Lecturer of Marketing, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/454082015-07-30T11:16:05Z2015-07-30T11:16:05ZLord Sewel affair is a symptom of Britain’s broken democracy<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-expect-lord-sewels-indiscretion-to-prompt-constitutional-change-45335">downfall of John Sewel</a> can be seen as a morality tale – a case of hubris, or of the last remnants of Westminster’s <em>ancien régime</em> of political corruption.</p>
<p>While the events surrounding Sewel’s departure may be unique, they are reminiscent of a wider failure of British politics and a malaise within its governing institutions. Beyond the personal, the scandal has renewed the important debate in the UK about the reform of the House of Lords and indeed the British political system in general.</p>
<p>The Sewel case reflects the persistent belief among politicians that they should live by different rules to the rest of society. In that sense, it shares some key characteristics with other institutional failures among <a href="https://theconversation.com/labour-talks-tough-on-banking-reform-but-little-will-change-37674">banks</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/cultures-of-all-kinds-let-children-down-in-rotherham-31040">child protection authorities</a> and the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/mar/17/hillsborough-duckenfield-denies-froze-leadership-police">police</a>. Time and again, we have watched as institutions and elites set and live by their own rules. Indeed, Sewel was chairman of the House of Lords <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33667676">conduct committee</a>. </p>
<p>The political elite think their bad, and sometimes even criminal, behaviour will be hidden behind closed doors. The problem with this – and politicians are struggling to make sense of it – is that the failure to govern their behaviour is having a significant impact on public trust. </p>
<h2>19th-century system</h2>
<p>The reason for recurrent crises in British political and social institutions is that they have been used to <a href="http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/institutional-crisis-in-21st-century-britain-/?K=9781137334381">operating in a closed world</a>. The presumption has been that institutions are run by good chaps who can be trusted to act in the public interest.</p>
<p>Of course, underpinning this assumption has been the notion that they set their own culture and make their own rules. As William Armstrong, a former cabinet secretary, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=21T7XnOp-fwC&pg=PA157&lpg=PA157&dq=I+am+accountable+to+my+own+idea+of+a+civil+servant&source=bl&ots=WSB25Rxp8U&sig=lhiaSMU_OfHzxKzVcq_B3pd2jDI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAGoVChMInIXK686AxwIVSMkUCh3W6gxu#v=onepage&q=I%20am%20accountable%20to%20my%20own%20idea%20of%20a%20civil%20servant&f=false">said:</a> “I am accountable to my own ideal of a civil servant.”</p>
<p>The fundamental cause of the House of Commons <a href="https://theconversation.com/miller-resigns-but-keeping-mps-honest-is-still-a-messy-business-25287">expenses scandal</a> was that MPs were setting their own rules and judging those rules about expenses. When the public found out, many MPs expressed shock that this was seen as unacceptable because they were honourable people. They could not appreciate how disconnected they were from their voters.</p>
<p>These events reveal some fundamental problems with British democracy. Britain has political institutions based on a 19th-century conception of democracy. These institutions were created when a small elite ruled and was elected by a slightly bigger electorate. The core political framework has not changed to reflect industrialisation and a mass electorate.</p>
<p>The House of Lords is one of the best exemplars of this problem in action. Even after reform, members of the House of Lords continue to be appointed by a set of arcane rules rather than being elected.</p>
<p>The fact that David Cameron sees his slender victory as an opportunity to appoint <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jul/28/david-cameron-to-appoint-more-tory-peers-to-the-house-of-lords">more Conservatives</a> to the House of Lords (without public input) reflects the deformed nature of Britain’s political system.</p>
<p>Even the elected institutions exist on the basis that they are the ones who know how to govern and rarely give citizens any chance to determine policy issues. Democratic input is through an occasional vote, not participation in decisions.</p>
<h2>Democratic deficit</h2>
<p>The advent of digital technology has undermined the closed information world. Sewel is not the first to be caught in a digital trap. The misrepresentation of the death of the newspaper salesman, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10728685">Ian Tomlinson</a>, was revealed by mobile phone footage. The widespread availability of information mean that institutions are increasingly being challenged over how they make decisions. Misdemeanors are being revealed, and the public can see that those running institutions may have feet of clay.</p>
<p>There are signs that the public is beginning to vote for change. The 2015 election saw the rise of anti-establishment parties with the success of the SNP in Scotland and the strong performance of UKIP in the rest of the UK. In many ways the rise of these parties was seen as reflection of a wider distrust of the establishment elite.</p>
<p>The big question remains though: what is to be done with this broken system? Despite the election result, politicians have reverted to type and have shown very little sign of searching for an urgent response to political dissatisfaction.</p>
<p>The way to start to resolve these crises is to think about democratic institutions that operate in the world of open information and treat citizens as part of the process and not as a subject of institutional fiat. The House of Lords can only be trusted as an institution if it is open and democratic and not one seemingly controlled by and for a political elite.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45408/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martin Smith receives funding from Esrc</span></em></p>The circumstances may be unique, but the disgraced peer is part of a wider problem.Martin Smith, Anniversary Professor of Politics, University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/370022015-02-02T16:56:45Z2015-02-02T16:56:45ZFrom gambling rings to sly downloads: how police corruption has changed<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/70824/original/image-20150202-13063-19nntrw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Corrupt police look a bit different these days.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Police in England and Wales have been told to review nearly 2,000 cases of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jan/30/police-forces-ordered-review-2000-cases-alleged-corruption%5D(http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jan/30/police-forces-ordered-review-2000-cases-alleged-corruption">alleged corruption</a> after Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary found that no action had been taken in two-thirds of investigations carried out in 2014.</p>
<p>The finding has also revealed just how much the kind of corruption that goes on in the police has changed over the years. </p>
<p>It seems the police have been accused of some pretty serious offences of late, from drug-related crimes to bribery, theft, sexual misconduct and disclosing information without authorisation. But they pale in comparison to what went on in the past.</p>
<h2>Old-school crime</h2>
<p>In the 1960s the police – particularly in London – were enmeshed in networks of corruption with organised criminals who were involved in the running of prostitution, pornography and gambling operations. With very limited internal supervision and no credible system for making a complaint, detectives in the Criminal Investigation Division and the Obscene Publications Squad would protect brothels or porn shops from raids and put pressure on competitors in return for <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Dirty_Squad.html?id=Ib_sHAAACAAJ&redir_esc=y">bribes or freebies</a>.</p>
<p>From the 1970s, the problem was becoming drugs. Networks of corrupt officers were found, not just in London but all over the country – and the corruption extended even to supposedly elite units such as Regional Crime Squads.</p>
<p>In this period, police officers could also be found in cahoots with groups of armed robbers, <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bent-Coppers-Scotland-against-corruption/dp/0752859021%20;http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/144820903X/ref=rdr_ext_tmb">protecting them in return for a cut</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/sir-robert-mark-commissioner-of-the-metropolitan-police-who-was-ruthless-in-rooting-out-corruption-2097551.html">Robert Mark</a>, the outspoken chief constable of that era, tried to tackle corruption of this kind head-on in the 1970s by disciplining or sacking officers. Despite often facing opposition from within the force, Mark dryly believed “a police force is one that catches more criminals than it employs”.</p>
<p>But by the 1990s, the corruption linking detectives to organised crime was so serious that the Met had to establish a secret “ghost squad” to gather intelligence. Then a more formal unit, <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10611-005-3003-1">CIB3</a>, was formed to break up corruption in the longer term using close surveillance, bugging and informants. CIB3 was held to be a major success in rooting out corrupt networks of senior officers.</p>
<h2>New-look corruption</h2>
<p>More recently though, the nature of police corruption seems to have changed. The kind of blue-collar corruption that blighted the force in the past has been replaced by more sophisticated forms of unethical behaviour.</p>
<p>And where once it was grizzled detectives in the frame, it now seems as though new uniformed officers are becoming the culprits. As the use of drugs becomes more normalised in wider society, a number of those who join the police do not see anything particularly wrong in taking drugs. But once in the job, their drug use puts them at risk of blackmail.</p>
<p>Similarly, the use of steroids amongst some officers in various uniformed branches exposes them to the milieu of gyms which may also be frequented by organised criminals. These criminals may provide them drugs in order to draw them into webs of corruption.</p>
<p>Then there is passing on sensitive information. In the 1970s and 1980s information was held on paper or tended to be passed on personally by detectives in the know. Now that police systems have been computerised, organised criminals can get access to information more easily if they can bribe an officer or civilian workers to access information on the Police National Computer. Even though every officer’s use of the PNC is logged, it is not impossible to get around the system. As recent cases show, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2621016/Met-shame-officers-leak-data-force-computer-criminals-300-uniform-civilian-staff-caught-abusing-system.html">information leakage</a> is a problem.</p>
<p>Links between detectives and the press is also an area of concern. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2003/mar/12/sun.pressandpublishing">Rebekah Brooks</a>, the former editor of The Sun, admitted to a Commons committee some time ago that journalists pay police for information – and there have since been a <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/phone-hacking/9793372/Hacking-corrupt-Yard-officer-found-guilty-of-trying-to-sell-information-to-NotW.html">number of convictions</a> related to the problem.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140122145147/http:/www.levesoninquiry.org.uk/">Leveson Inquiry</a> disclosed just how unhealthy some of the more informal relationships between police and journalists have been in the past, with police and journalists dining together on expenses and sharing gossip. These were long-term relationships which were useful to both sides. They were not technically corrupt because they did not involve the direct relationship between information supplied and a reward taken. Sometimes they could be useful in investigations in publicising police calls for information. But they also involved cosy relationships between police and journalists that minimised journalistic independence and made the police look unprofessional. Once exposed, these relationships could not survive.</p>
<p>It seems then, that blue-collar corruption has given way to more white-collar crime in the police. The trouble is that there is a worrying lack of intelligence on the problem. In the 1990s, the Metropolitan Police had to start from scratch in gathering intelligence on corrupt networks and their effects on the police. To their credit they recognised they had been caught off guard by the development of networks of serious corruption.</p>
<p>It would be a tragedy if history were to repeat itself. The current generation of Met police is the cleanest in history and all other services now have dedicated professional standards units but they need constant support.</p>
<p>The HMIC report mentioned the need to look at cases to see the full intelligence picture on police corruption. If the police have failed to keep up with the bad eggs in their ranks, be it technologically or in terms of information, the police may need to reinvent the anti-corruption wheel and shift resources back to long-term intelligence gathering and investigation while they are pressured financially on all other fronts as well.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/37002/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jon Moran receives funding from the Remote Warfare project of the Oxford Research Group, currently looking into Remote Warfare and counter terrorism.</span></em></p>Police in England and Wales have been told to review nearly 2,000 cases of alleged corruption after Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary found that no action had been taken in two-thirds of investigations…Jon Moran, Reader in Security, University of LeicesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/263022014-05-08T04:16:06Z2014-05-08T04:16:06ZA national ICAC? We need better anti-corruption bodies, not more<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47938/original/ypp5nfxq-1399439162.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A 'national ICAC', which the Greens recently proposed in response to the revelations in NSW, would be fraught with difficulties if implemented.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Lukas Coch</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The corruption scandals facing New South Wales politics are about as <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/interactives/icac-relationships-graph/">complex as they come</a>. The sheer number of <a href="http://www.icac.nsw.gov.au/investigations/current-investigations">investigations</a>, seemingly involving a conveyer belt of familiar faces, have made the question of “who next?” seem almost as valid as “what next?”.</p>
<p>Perhaps not surprisingly, given the high-profile scalps already claimed by these investigations (including <a href="https://theconversation.com/history-repeats-how-ofarrell-and-greiner-fell-foul-of-icac-25701">premier Barry O'Farrell</a>), the recent scandals have caused some, such as political commentator <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2014/s3987328.htm">Gerard Henderson</a> and former NSW Liberal MP <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2014/s3988187.htm">Bruce Baird</a>, to argue the power and efficacy of the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) are too strong.</p>
<p>Other groups, such as the <a href="http://greens.org.au/node/4331">Greens</a>, have called for the establishment of a “national ICAC equivalent” to ensure a “clear separation between business and politics”. This is not the first time these calls have been made, but they continue to gain little traction.</p>
<p>The ongoing ICAC hearings in NSW have revealed that there should be greater regulation and monitoring of Australian politics by an independent organisation or committee. However, implementing a national body would be fraught with difficulties in practice. </p>
<p>Independent anti-corruption organisations already exist in <a href="http://www.icac.nsw.gov.au">New South Wales</a>, <a href="http://www.cmc.qld.gov.au">Queensland</a>, <a href="http://www.ccc.wa.gov.au">Western Australia</a>, <a href="http://www.ibac.gov.au">Victoria</a>, <a href="http://www.integrity.tas.gov.au">Tasmania</a> and <a href="http://www.icac.sa.gov.au">South Australia</a>. These vary slightly in operational structure and scope, but all focus on reducing levels of corruption. </p>
<p>As each of these bodies is supported by state-based legislation, definitions (and thus understandings) of corruption vary slightly between the states. Any national body would have to navigate potential jurisdictional overlaps, as well as differences in legalistic understandings of corruption, across the states and territories. This is not an easy task. </p>
<p>Such a proposed federal body should not focus solely on the link between politics and business, as the Greens have suggested. Strong ties between politics and business present a corruption risk, but it is not the only one.</p>
<p>Other risks <a href="http://www.icac.nsw.gov.au/preventing-corruption/knowing-your-risks">include</a> the handling of confidential information, and improper supervision. The case last year of Victorian police officers <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/police-linked-to-outlaw-motorcycle-gangs/story-fn3dxiwe-1226607228462">socialising with bikies</a> also demonstrates that not all risks occur during business hours. Creating an organisational focus based on the problems of the day risks creating an organisation that isn’t relevant to the problems of tomorrow. </p>
<p>However, a number of countries have succeeded in establishing effective national independent anti-corruption organisations. Two of note are Singapore’s <a href="http://app.cpib.gov.sg/cpib_new/user/default.aspx?pgID=21">Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau</a> (CPIB) and the Hong Kong <a href="http://www.icac.org.hk/en/home/">ICAC</a>. Both of these organisations were established in light of widespread corruption and in the face of strong opposition. Both continue to have a strong presence. </p>
<p>What makes these organisations notable in comparison to Australia is the length of time that they have been operational. The CPIB was established in 1952 and the Hong Kong ICAC in 1974. It is the model of the Hong Kong ICAC that is adopted in most Australian states. </p>
<p>These organisations have weathered scandals, and through a conscious effort of education and community engagement – in addition to ongoing internal reviews – have ensured ongoing relevancy and efficacy.</p>
<p>The current critiques levelled at the NSW ICAC have had a flow-on effect to other Australian independent anti-corruption organisations. Victoria’s Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) was <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/comment/why-nsws-anticorruption-watchdog-is-more-effective-than-victorias-20140504-zr4b5.html">recently criticised</a> for not having enough “runs on the board”. Lawyer Eric Dyrenfurth painted an Orwellian picture of Victorian politics, in which politicians are subservient to the self-power-enriching, ideology-free mindset of the “machine”. </p>
<p>This, Dyrenfurth argued, is what caused the “toothless tiger” that is the Victorian IBAC. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47940/original/nq9b6zyz-1399441185.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47940/original/nq9b6zyz-1399441185.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47940/original/nq9b6zyz-1399441185.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=839&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47940/original/nq9b6zyz-1399441185.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=839&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47940/original/nq9b6zyz-1399441185.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=839&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47940/original/nq9b6zyz-1399441185.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1055&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47940/original/nq9b6zyz-1399441185.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1055&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47940/original/nq9b6zyz-1399441185.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1055&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">NSW police minister Mike Gallacher is one recent victim of the state’s ICAC.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Dan Himbrechts</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It should be noted that Dyrenfurth is not <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/corruption-watchdog-muzzled-20120619-20m7z.html">the first person</a> to consider the IBAC a toothless tiger. I have <a href="https://theconversation.com/watchdogs-with-teeth-what-victoria-can-learn-about-fighting-corruption-11185">made the point</a> previously in The Conversation. However, to say that this is proved by the lack of “completed investigations” listed in the IBAC’s <a href="http://www.ibac.vic.gov.au/docs/default-source/special-reports/special_report_-first_year_operational.pdf?sfvrsn=4">latest report</a> is problematic. </p>
<p>Dyrenfurth identifies that listing ten completed investigations out of 24 commenced is “hardly runs on the board” and is proof of both the weak-kneed nature of Victoria’s IBAC and the comparative success of the NSW ICAC. When you consider that between <a href="http://www.icac.nsw.gov.au/annual-reports">2012 and 2013</a>, the NSW ICAC conducted 22 investigations from 3000 complaints – and that only six of these 22 resulted in reports to parliament – it becomes clear that adequately fighting corruption is often less about getting runs on the board and more about creating awareness. </p>
<p>A national <a href="http://politicsir.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/2012-10-26_ANUpoll_ethics_corruption.pdf.pdf">survey of attitudes</a> to corruption conducted by the ANU in 2012 found that less than 1% of Australians had any personal experience with corruption, yet 43% of people think that levels have increased. </p>
<p>In addition, only half of those surveyed said they knew where to report corruption. Of that half, only 5% said they would report it to an anti-corruption organisation. </p>
<p>There is a lot of confusion surrounding corruption in Australia, both in and out of politics. Corruption organisations need legislative teeth, yet they also need a strong community presence. We only need to look to Hong Kong and Singapore to see the role that education and prevention efforts play in ensuring both the strength of an organisation and the effective management of corruption levels.</p>
<p>When it comes to fighting corruption in Australia, let’s focus on improving what we have. We need better efforts, not more of them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/26302/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Olivia Monaghan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The corruption scandals facing New South Wales politics are about as complex as they come. The sheer number of investigations, seemingly involving a conveyer belt of familiar faces, have made the question…Olivia Monaghan, PhD Student in the School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/247002014-03-26T19:44:05Z2014-03-26T19:44:05ZJacks and Jokers: Bjelke-Petersen and Queensland’s ‘police state’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44502/original/n7k5xbks-1395619008.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3599%2C2370&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">With the Queensland Police Force covering his back, Queensland premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen (pictured right) was impervious in his time in power.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">srv007</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><strong><em>In his latest book, <a href="http://www.uqp.uq.edu.au/book.aspx/1283/Jacks%20and%20Jokers">Jacks and Jokers</a>, Matthew Condon traces the rise and influence of Queensland Police Commissioner Terry Lewis during the Joh Bjelke-Petersen years. In this extract, Condon writes how within a year of Lewis’ elevation as commissioner, Bjelke-Petersen effectively controlled a police state in Queensland.</em></strong></p>
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<p>In the last week of 1982, Queensland Police Commissioner Terry Lewis tidied a few things up before his 28 days’ annual leave.</p>
<p>He launched the exciting new “Kiss a Cop” campaign prior to New Year’s Eve festivities and attended the opening of the 13th Australian Jamboree “by His Excellency Sir Ninian Stephen, Chief Scout for Australia”.</p>
<p>It had been another big year – his sixth as Commissioner. But Lewis could be well satisfied. He had what appeared to be an inviolable friendship with the premier, Joh Bjelke-Petersen, and had also made powerful friends in Queensland National Party president Sir Robert Sparkes and TAB chairman Sir Edward Lyons.</p>
<p>He had seen off police ministers who didn’t sit well with his philosophies and how he ran his ship, the latest being the formidable Russ Hinze. Earlier in the year his police force had survived yet another call for a royal commission into its corrupt ways, and Lewis and the government had established a Police Complaints Tribunal that, in the not too distant future, would be put in the hands of his old mate Judge Eric Pratt.</p>
<p>And though it may have taken six years, Lewis had dismantled and in most cases seen off the final clutch of supporters of Ray Whitrod, his predecessor as police commissioner.</p>
<p>In the world away from his big office in police headquarters and his home up on Garfield Drive, his old smooth-talking friend Jack Herbert had hooked into the Hapeta and Tilley money-making vice machine and was reeling in tens of thousands of dollars in corrupt payments for The Joke. </p>
<p>Down at 142 Wickham Street, upstairs in the casino that didn’t exist, punters were enjoying the patronage of Geraldo Bellino, the drinks, the girls, and having a flutter into the early hours of the morning.</p>
<p>Commissioner Lewis had unexpectedly lost a great ally in Tony Murphy, a colleague who he had worked alongside and admired from the late 1940s. Murphy had taught Lewis a lot, and had been indispensable in ridding the force of Whitrod and opening the commissioner’s door to Lewis.</p>
<p>And while on paper – certainly according to the department’s annual reports – Lewis was doing a stellar job, his administration in the eyes of many still carried about it the stench of corruption. It was not difficult to understand why.</p>
<p>The 1970s in Queensland, and particularly Brisbane, had seen the evolution of a bona fide underworld, where crime syndicates had formed and carved out their turf. Like anywhere else in the world, criminal real estate was closely protected and transgression from rivals was often met with violence. </p>
<p>Quaint little Brisbane, with its jacarandas and poinsettias, its church raffles and hollering paper boys at the main city intersections, had not been spared the growth of the drug and vice trade, and the attendant criminals that presided over it.</p>
<p>Indeed, those involved in the city’s underworld in the 1970s and into the 1980s described the local scene, straight-faced, as being just as violent and dangerous as anywhere else in Australia.</p>
<p>The body count was testimony to such observations. In 1973, the Whiskey Au Go Go inferno was the greatest mass murder in the country’s history to that point.</p>
<p>There was the controversial “drug overdose” of Shirley Margaret Brifman, the assassination of National Hotel manager Jack Cooper, the murder of boxer Tommy Hamilton, the disappearance of prostitutes Margaret Ward and Simone Vogel, and the vanishing of Barbara McCulkin and her two young daughters. </p>
<p>The bulk of these cases, and many others, had attracted the suspicion of police involvement.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44500/original/tpm3ftt5-1395618559.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44500/original/tpm3ftt5-1395618559.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44500/original/tpm3ftt5-1395618559.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44500/original/tpm3ftt5-1395618559.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44500/original/tpm3ftt5-1395618559.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44500/original/tpm3ftt5-1395618559.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44500/original/tpm3ftt5-1395618559.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44500/original/tpm3ftt5-1395618559.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UQP</span></span>
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<p>When Commissioner Whitrod had moved on the so-called Rat Pack – Lewis, Murphy and Glen Hallahan – he was ultimately removed, fleeing the state in fear of his life.</p>
<p>Case after case in Queensland courts against alleged corrupt police, illegal casino operators or friends to crooked officers fell over like dominoes. Within the force, police officers who dared voice their opinions against a corrupt regime were forced out of the job and the state, drank themselves to death, or lost their families under the pressure of the need to do what was right. Hundreds of promising careers were destroyed, further perpetuating a cycle of corruption by leaving behind those who toed the line.</p>
<p>And Herbert, master conman and liar, organised supremely a corrupt system that flourished in the Lewis era and proved resilient to everything thrown at it. Over time, its impact was far greater than its original intention – the effort to keep it hidden from sight and the wheels moving smoothly in turn reached into the public service, the judiciary and into the halls of government itself, and began buckling them out of shape.</p>
<p>Lewis’s need to please and impress Bjelke-Petersen had worked brilliantly for both men. Within a year of Lewis taking the chair, Bjelke-Petersen controlled a police state. Ordinary civil liberties disappeared and would only be returned when and if the premier deemed it appropriate to return them. </p>
<p>With the Queensland Police Force covering his back, Bjelke-Petersen was impervious.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Matthew Condon will be appearing at an In Conversation Event with Quentin Dempster at <a href="https://gleebooks.worldsecuresystems.com/BookingRetrieve.aspx?ID=154571">Gleebooks</a> in Sydney on April 10 and at <a href="http://brisbanepowerhouse.org/events/2014/04/13/matthew-condon-and-chris-masters-jacks-and-jokers/">Brisbane Powerhouse</a> on April 13 with Chris Masters.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/24700/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Condon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In his latest book, Jacks and Jokers, Matthew Condon traces the rise and influence of Queensland Police Commissioner Terry Lewis during the Joh Bjelke-Petersen years. In this extract, Condon writes how…Matthew Condon, Adjunct Professor, School of Creative Industries, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.