One in every three Australians believe more than half of people working in government are involved in corruption, according to research.

In a study featured in the Analysis and Policy Observatory, researchers from the Australian Institute of Criminology surveyed more than 11,300 Australians about how they view corruption among public officials. The interviews were conducted in 2022, before the opening of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC).

Of those surveyed, almost a third (29.6%) said more than half of government institutions in Australia are involved in corrupt practices. Meanwhile, nearly two in five (38%) people believe more than half of the country’s politicians are involved in corruption.

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Higher levels of corruption exist, according to younger, unemployed, and First Nations respondents. The same sentiment is true for people with lower levels of education, as well as those living in poor areas in the country.

When asked further, about a third of respondents think those working in government institutions either ‘never’ or only ‘occasionally’ act with honesty and integrity. They also feel that government workers do not consider the views of ordinary citizens, and do not treat them with fairness, equality, dignity, and respect.

Perceptions of corruption in the public sector

Interestingly, how Australians view corruption in government institutions may not necessarily reflect the actual occurrence of corruption, according to the researchers.

Between 2021 and 2022, 138 Australian Public Service employees reportedly violated their Code of Conduct. The 2022 APS Employee Census, on the other hand, revealed that three per cent of government workers said they witnessed a colleague engaged in potentially corrupt practices.

There is also only a small number of people (less than one per cent) in the country who said they saw public officials get involved in corrupt behaviour.

Australia is considered as one of the least corrupt countries in the world, based on the Corruption Perceptions Index. The CPI ranks countries "by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys."

Despite these, the researchers pointed out that how corruption is perceived tends to be different.

About two-thirds of Australians believed the Australian government suffers from a major corruption problem, according to a 2020 survey conducted as part of the Global Corruption Barometer. Meanwhile, more than a third (32%) of respondents in a 2012 survey said the federal government was corrupt.

Some Australians also do not believe that the Commonwealth, state, and territory governments can properly handle corruption among their ranks.

The current AIC study highlights the need for the government to have concrete anti-corruption measures. Insights from the report suggest that as more people perceive corruption among public officials, the less confident they become about the legitimacy of those leading the government.

“Perceived corruption and the legitimacy of public officials go hand in hand. Implementing measures to address one may help improve the other,” the researchers wrote.

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Addressing corruption in government institutions

The Australian government has adopted measures to keep corruption in the public sector in check. For instance, state governments established dedicated standing anti-corruption agencies to prevent these practices from happening.

Meanwhile, the Commonwealth government employs a multi-agency approach. Each agency has complementary roles that involve preventing, detecting and investigating serious corruption that may constitute an offence under Commonwealth law, detecting and investigating law enforcement-related corruption issues, and promoting integrity across the public service and investigating misconduct.

In 2023, the government created the National Anti-Corruption Commission to prevent, detect, investigate, and report on serious or systemic corruption in the Commonwealth public sector. The agency is also responsible for educating the public service, as well as the public, on how to prevent corruption.