Perceptions of Corruption in Victoria

The public service is critical to the lives of every Victorian, providing front line social, health, justice and emergency services and transport and other infrastructure that supports our daily lives. The Victorian public has a right to expect that people working for the public sector perform their duties with integrity, fairly and honestly. If corrupt activities are not identified or are left unchecked, this can lead to a waste of public money and resources, can undermine peoples trust and respect in government, and damage the reputation of the public sector as a whole. How do people perceive the level of corruption in the Victorian public sector? What are the risks? And do they know how to respond? In late 2012, the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) engaged the Transnational Research Institute on Corruption at the Australian National University (ANU) to conduct research into corruption risks within the Victorian public sector. The overall aim of the research was to establish baseline information on current corruption risks and challenges to help inform IBACs future prevention and education strategies. As part of the research to examine perceptions of corruption in Victoria, focus groups were held with community members, and surveys were conducted with the community and senior public servants. This paper reports on the findings from these studies of community and public servants perceptions of corruption in Victoria