Corruption prevention is one of the Integrity Commissioner’s core functions, and essential to ACLEI’s vision, purpose and objectives.

ACLEI’s Corruption Prevention team works closely with our investigators and intelligence analysts to identify trends and vulnerabilities relating to corruption. We use these insights to support law enforcement agencies to strengthen their internal frameworks to prevent corruption and promote integrity and to shape best practice integrity policy.

We prevent corruption through:

  • identifying and disseminating information on corruption vulnerabilities and risks to partner agencies and the public
  • providing tailored assistance to Australian Government law enforcement agencies to detect corrupt conduct and mitigate risks
  • specialist projects on emerging corruption threats
  • innovative approaches to prevention, and
  • engaging with the Australian Parliament, agencies and the public.

While our jurisdictional partners are our core focus, our corruption prevention work has value for a range of other stakeholders. Our work extends beyond our jurisdictional partners, to Australia-wide and international integrity bodies and anti-corruption fora.

Our engagement with the Australian Parliament and the public also serves a dual purpose:

  • providing assurance to the Parliament and the public on the integrity of Australian Government law enforcement agencies, and
  • acting as a deterrent to those who might be tempted to engage in corrupt conduct.

Corruption Prevention Strategy 2021-24

Over the next three financial years our corruption prevention efforts will focus on delivering the following outcomes:

2021-22: Building ACLEI capability and capacity

We will refine our internal processes for contributing to and drawing insights from investigations, intelligence and data. Our thematic focus is on misuse of information, corruption in contracting out to service providers, ongoing employment suitability and grooming.

2022-23: Developing benchmarks and best practise

We will benchmark integrity principles and maturity levels to develop a baseline for our future corruption prevention work. In addition, we will increase our partnerships across the public sector to disseminate corruption risk and prevention learnings. Our thematic focus will be informed by trends and vulnerabilities identified in the previous year and will include employment and ongoing suitability, managing conflicts of interest and procurement.

2023-24: Embedding and amplifying our learnings

We will support agencies to implement integrity best practice and assess maturity. Our thematic focus will be determined based on trends identified during the previous two years and agency needs as identified in an annual survey.

Read the strategy

Corruption Vulnerabilities Brief 2021-22

ACLEI has published its annual Corruption Vulnerabilities Brief.

ACLEI is committed to strengthening the integrity of Australian Government law enforcement agencies. The Corruption Vulnerabilities Brief draws together and highlights the corruption prevention observations that the Integrity Commissioner made throughout 2021-22 to assist agencies to manage the corruption risks that may be present in their organisations. The Brief is based on analysis of all investigations undertaken under the Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner Act 2006 (LEIC Act) and related prosecutions that resulted in findings of corruption or misconduct during the 2022 financial year.

Three key corruption vulnerabilities were identified including:

  • misuse of information
  • conflict of interest
  • internal fraud

Read the Corruption Vulnerabilities Brief 2021-22

ACLEI outreach and engagement functions

Community of Practice (CoP)

The ACLEI Corruption Prevention Community of Practice (CoP) unites integrity professionals from all agencies within ACLEI’s jurisdiction and is a forum for:

  • discovering
  • learning, and
  • sharing best practice in corruption prevention.

ACLEI Community of Practice forum topics planned for 2022 include:

  • integrity in procurement
  • grooming and reach back
  • SES integrity risks and responsibilities

Engagement

ACLEI participates in a range of anti-corruption fora to share best practice integrity policy.

In 2022, ACLEI is co-hosting the Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference (APSACC) with the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (NSW ICAC) and the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC).

ACLEI collaborates with stakeholders across policy communities in international forums including:

  • Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Forum
  • Integrity Agencies Group
  • Corruption Prevention Practitioners’ Forum, bringing together corruption prevention experts from each of the state and territory integrity agencies, and ACLEI
  • Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development
    • Working Party of Senior Public Integrity Officials
  • United Nations: ACLEI is Australia’s competent national authority for corruption prevention in accordance with the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC)
    • Intergovernmental Working Group on the Prevention of Corruption
  • G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group
  • APEC
    • Anti-Corruption & Transparency Working Group (ACTWG)
    • Network on Anti-Corruption Authorities and Law Enforcement Agencies (ACT-NET)