Greed is the common denominator for corruption. Strong institutions, checks and balances, integrity of individuals serving the public are important factors that contribute to fair and clean governance.
While poverty and low salaries have often been cited as pretext for pilfering from public coffers and extracting from the community what does not belong to oneself, they are lame excuses for rampant corruption in developing countries. It is an endemic systematic failure that needs a holistic and comprehensive approach to redress and find solutions.
Though widely held as effective, the lack of public scrutiny has not helped to expose fraud and corruption in the Australian public sector.
The fact that it exists on a scale higher than what we have perceived shows that corruption is not a disease that is limited to the Third World. It has little has to do with stereotype cultural factors as well. Despite our proud institutions, democratic tradition and rule of law, some humans are fallible and susceptible to greed and run foul of the law.
As I have suggested time and again, whistleblowers should not be ostracised and punished. While teamwork and stability should be valued, some wrongs have to be exposed appropriately and righted. That is the meaning of accountability to the public.
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