Integrity is a broad concept that covers all the little interactions in our day-to-day work. Things such as favouritism, misusing information, collusion, deliberate non-compliance with procedures and inaction on such conduct can all constitute breaches of integrity that create poor culture and lead to more serious problems within an organisation.

All public sector employees, from those in entry level positions to senior executives, are responsible for the integrity of their decisions. Behaviours and cultures that contribute to misconduct and corruption undermine our public sector and decrease public trust and confidence.

By David Burfoot, Senior Advisor, The Ethics Centre.

Trust and confidence hold our society together. Trust in public institutions plays an important part in this and it’s founded on the principle that officials will prioritise public interest over personal interests when making decisions.

One of the most problematic areas in conflicts of interest management relates to perception issues, particularly for newcomers to the public service.

By Professor Robert Klitgaard, Claremont Graduate University, USA.

Every society has corruption, defined as the use of office for illicit private gain. At the same time, every society decries corruption. It is one of the most talked-about issues around the world, the theme of disturbances and campaigns, the subject of condemnations and ardent promises.

And yet: even as we complain, we accept; and sometimes, we participate. The essence of underdevelopment, for people as well as countries, could be this: we say we don’t want something, and then we go ahead and do it.

By Judy Sutherland, Assistant Director Policy, Projects and Strategy, and Andrew Crow, Director Rural and Regional Health, Department of Health and Human Services.

DHHS, in partnership with the Australian Centre for Healthcare Governance, has developed a new resource to help reduce fraud and corruption in the publicly funded health sector. The Integrity Governance Framework and Assessment Tool serves as a guide to strengthen integrity culture and reduce the likelihood of fraud and corruption in Victoria’s health service organisations. It readily adapts to the needs, capability and resources of health services regardless of their size.

This new IBAC research report is an overview of the key risks associated with unauthorised access and disclosure of information by Victoria Police employees. It explores the drivers of these risks, as well as potential prevention, reporting and detection measures. The Victorian community rightly expects Victoria Police to protect and safeguard law enforcement data and official information it holds, and for employees to only use this information for a legitimate business need. When this data and information is accessed and disclosed without authorisation it compromises the safety of citizens and the community, and may constitute police misconduct or corruption.

This new IBAC information sheet highlights corruption vulnerabilities associated with public sector boards in Victoria. It alerts government departments to opportunities to strengthen their systems and practices to address those vulnerabilities. It also outlines measures to aid the detection, reporting and prevention of corruption which can otherwise lead to waste of public money and resources, undermine people's trust in government, and damage the reputation of the public sector.

With just over a month to go before the 7th Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference (APSACC) in Melbourne, the program is now finalised, with an outstanding range of speakers confirmed.

The Hon Anne Ferguson, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, will deliver the conference’s opening address, and each day of the conference will begin with two keynote addresses from expert national and international speakers.

As part of its role to provide independent oversight of Victoria Police, IBAC is conducting an audit of Victoria Police handling of complaints by Aboriginal people. The audit is examining 55 files closed by Victoria Police during 2018 where the complainant or a person involved in a serious incident following contact with Victoria Police has been identified as an Aboriginal person. As part of the audit, IBAC will engage broadly with relevant community and Aboriginal organisations. IBAC expects to report publicly on this audit in 2020.

IBAC's investigation Operation Turon into allegations about the conduct of former Assistant Commissioner of Victoria Police Professional Standards Command, Brett Guerin, has concluded. As part of Operation Turon, IBAC examined the outcomes of complaints made to Professional Standards Command that may have been adversely affected by bias on the part of Mr Guerin. IBAC's investigation found no evidence of actual bias. Regardless of this, this behaviour risked damaging the integrity of, and confidence in, Victoria Police investigations.

In 2012, Victoria introduced legislation to consolidate and extend protection of people making protected disclosure complaints about public sector corruption or police misconduct. The system has evolved through a number of changes since then including recent changes, passed in February 2019, that come into effect on 1 January 2020 with the commencement of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2012.

With just over a month to go before the 7th Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference (APSACC) in Melbourne, the program is now finalised, with an outstanding range of speakers confirmed. The Hon Anne Ferguson, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, will deliver the conference's opening address, and each day of the conference will begin with two keynote addresses from expert local and international speakers.