Corruption is currently soaring in Australia under the right-wing government of professing Pentecostal Christian Scott Morrison.
Transparency International released its annual corruption report on Wednesday which gives Australia the lowest score and global ranking since the series began in 1995.
The Corruption Perceptions Index is widely regarded as the leading global measure of public sector corruption. It offers an annual snapshot of the relative extent of corruption by ranking 180 countries and territories. Its methodology allows for comparison of scores across nations and from one year to the next.
Australia’s severe decline
Australia ranked seventh in the world in 1995 with a score equivalent to 88 out of 100. Only New Zealand, Denmark, Singapore, Finland, Canada and Sweden scored better, but not by much.
Through the late 1990s and early 2000s, under the conservative Howard Government, Australia slipped significantly in both scores and ranking, falling as low as 13th in 2000. But by 2007, Australia had recovered to 11th when Howard lost office.
Under the reformist Labor Party, Australia advanced impressively, ranking eighth from 2009 to 2011 and resuming seventh slot in 2012.
For the seven years from 2014 to 2020, under the conservatives again, Australia ranked between 11th and 13th.
Then suddenly last year, in just the one year, Australia tumbled in the global ranking from 11th to 18th. Its score fell from 77 where it has stayed for the last four years to a lowly 73.
The seven countries which overtook Australia in combating corruption last year were the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Austria, Canada, Estonia, Ireland and Iceland.
Worst decade collapse in the developed world
Over the last ten years, the deterioration in Australia’s standing is the deepest of all advanced nations. From a 2011 score of 88, Australia tumbled 15 points to just 73 in 2021.
No other developed member of the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) has fallen that far in that period. Of those 38 countries, 15 increased their scores over that time, 21 saw a decline and two remained unchanged.
The way ahead
This report from an influential global agency adds weight to increasingly urgent calls for an investigative commission with similar powers at the federal level to Victoria’s Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission and the Independent Commission Against Corruption in NSW.
This is part of a longer article published earlier today by Michael West Media.
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The original article is available here in full for free:
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/australia-hits-new-low-on-transparency-international-corruption-index/
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“Alan Austin is a great Australian journalist and,
I think, a pirate. I steal Alan Austin’s findings all the time.”
~ Jordan Shanks
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