The Morrison Government’s decision yesterday to scrap plans for a federal anti-corruption watchdog has made headlines – but very few reports have revealed how far Australia has slipped down the list of nations perceived to be least corrupt, an index which influences business and investment decisions.
Attorney-General Michaelia Cash confirmed yesterday Australia’s anti-corruption legislation is off the agenda until after the election – breaking a promise made by Prime Minister Scott Morrison in December 2018.
Australia has fallen out of the top 10 list of nations perceived to be least corrupt – reflecting the diminishing integrity and accountability displayed by government.
For almost 20 years, Australia ranked in the top 10 (least corrupt) countries globally, in the international Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) compiled annually by Transparency International, a Berlin-based, non-governmental organisation founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank.
In 2012 Australia ranked seventh out of 180 with a score of 85. By 2021 it had fallen to 18th with a score of 73.
Adam Graycar, professor of public policy and director of the Stretton Institute at the University of Adelaide, has pointed out that no comparable country has suffered such a drop, and the only countries to have fallen further are Saint Lucia, Cyprus and Syria.
“It is not surprising that Denmark, Finland and New Zealand occupy the top spots, as they have for a decade,” Graycar noted.
“Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the UK have all risen over the decade but Canada and the US have fallen, although by not as much as Australia. Australia should be doing better.”
The CPI is not a measure of corruption but a perceptions index, globally used and respected. The 90-second video below explains it.
Every state in Australia has an anti-corruption commission that operates alongside its other integrity agencies, but the federal government falls short. With no agency holding regular public hearings, any corruption and misconduct in the federal arena, from sports rorts to dodgy land deals, is not properly exposed to the public.
A study conducted by the University of Canberra in 2016 found only 5% of Australians trust government. A poll commissioned by the Australia Institute the following year revealed that 85.3% of respondents think corruption exists in federal politics.
Graycar, who has had careers in both academia and government and who holds two doctorates from the University of NSW, has written a brief and pertinent article on the subject. It’s available to read online here on the Pearls and Irritations site, a public policy journal and blogsite founded and published by John Menadue, who is a former chief executive of Qantas and a former Australian Ambassador to Japan.
Written by Peter Needham
