2024 Australian Dialogue on Bribery and Corruption
Good morning and thank you for the warm introduction.
I thank Songwoman Maroochy for welcoming us today.
I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Jagera people and the Turrbal people as the Traditional Owners of Meanjin, and pay my respects to their Elders, past and present. I also extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people here today.
I am pleased to welcome you all to the to the 9th Australian Dialogue on Bribery and Corruption.
I thank the United Nations Global Compact Network Australia, in partnership with Allens, for inviting me to speak today and for hosting this important event.
In particular, I acknowledge the co-emcees for the Dialogue today:
Kate Dundas, Executive Director at the UN Global Compact Network Australia, and James Campbell, Partner at Allens.
Today is an opportunity for government, business leaders and civil society, including non-government organisations and academics, to strengthen Australia’s defences against bribery and corruption.
This year’s theme ‘Overcoming corruption for people, planet and prosperity’ highlights the corrosive impacts of corruption and bribery on the economy, environment and society.
It also highlights the importance of government and business working together to combat corruption, foreign bribery and integrity risk in Australia, and beyond.
Integrity reform agenda
At a local level, corruption, including bribery, can harm communities by increasing costs and reducing quality of public goods and services for citizens, skewing competition and misallocating precious resources.
At a macro level, corruption impedes economic development, corrodes good governance and undermines the rule of law.
Foreign bribery and corruption are insidious global problems that undermine sustainable development and progress.
Combatting corruption and its impact is a high priority for me as Attorney-General and should be a priority for us all.
Last year marked the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Convention against Corruption by the UN General Assembly. Earlier this year we marked the 25th anniversary of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention entering into force. These conventions are vital instruments in our efforts to combat corruption and foreign bribery.
Australia is a proud party to both of these conventions among other efforts to combat corruption and bribery on the international stage.
The Australian Government takes corruption very seriously. A central part of our government’s domestic policy agenda has been to restore public trust and strengthen standards of integrity in our federal government, and a range of reforms have been part of our integrity agenda.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission
On coming to government, a central pillar of our integrity agenda was to legislate a powerful, transparent and independent National Anti-Corruption Commission. Its commencement, on 1 July 2023, represented an historic step for our nation, ensuring there is a Commonwealth agency dedicated to detecting and investigating corruption within government.
Twelve months since its commencement, the Commission has received over 3,000 referrals and is conducting over 25 corruption investigations, overseeing or monitoring investigations by other agencies. Six matters are, or have been, before the courts.
To complement the establishment of the Commission, the Government has released a new Commonwealth Fraud and Corruption Control Framework which introduces new requirements for all Commonwealth agencies subject to the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 to take measures to prevent, detect and deal with corruption as well as fraud.
Open Government Partnership
In December 2023, Australia published its Third National Action Plan under the Open Government Partnership, which aims to secure commitments from governments across the world to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.
Australia’s Third National Action Plan includes eight key initiatives to improve transparency and mitigate corruption risk, including within procurement and grants programmes, and by progressing the establishment of a Beneficial Ownership Register.
Public sector whistleblower Reforms
The Government acknowledges the important role whistleblowers play in casting light on integrity issues and we are committed to ensuring that Australia has strong, effective and accessible frameworks to protect whistleblowers. The Government is progressing comprehensive and staged reforms to the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013, known as the PID Act, to ensure it effectively protects whistleblowers who report alleged wrongdoing and corruption.
The first stage of reforms to the PID Act was in place when the National Anti-Corruption Commission commenced on 1 July 2023. These were the first significant public sector whistleblowing reforms since the PID Act was enacted when Labor was last in government.
The reforms ensured immediate improvements to the Commonwealth public sector whistleblowing framework by strengthening protections for whistleblowers and witnesses, focusing the framework on integrity-related wrongdoing, making the framework easier to administer, and enhancing oversight of the framework by the Commonwealth Ombudsman and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security.
These reforms implemented 21 of the 33 recommendations from the 2016 statutory review of the PID Act conducted by Mr Philip Moss AM, and four recommendations of other parliamentary committee reports.
In late 2023, the Government conducted a public consultation on a second, broader stage of reforms to address the underlying complexity of the PID Act and consider the need for additional support for public sector whistleblowers.
Submissions received as part of this consultation process are now being considered,
Combatting foreign bribery
As many of you are aware, the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Combatting Foreign Bribery) Act 2024 passed Parliament in February this year, significantly strengthening Australia’s criminal offences on foreign bribery.
These reforms, which come into effect on 8 September this year, make corporations directly liable for the foreign bribery activities of their employees, external contractors, agents and subsidiaries, unless the company can demonstrate it had ‘adequate procedures’ in place.
This will enhance Australia’s response to foreign bribery while fulfilling our obligations under the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.
Whether a company can demonstrate it had ‘adequate procedures’ in place will ultimately be a matter for a court to determine. However, I will shortly publish guidance material that outlines the steps corporations can take to prevent the bribery of foreign public officials.
This guidance will assist corporations to address foreign bribery risk in a proportionate and effective way.
I would like to acknowledge the contribution of industry partners who have made submissions during recent public consultation on the draft guidance. Engagement of this kind is vital in the development of these materials to ensure they provide robust, fit‑for‑purpose and practical guidance to underpin new legislative requirements, thereby reducing the burden on corporations as they develop their anti-bribery and corruption compliance frameworks.
The legislation requires a review of the operation of the amendments after 18 months. The Government will consider any findings from that review to inform future reform to Australia’s foreign bribery regime.
Bribery Prevention Network
I would also like to recognise the significant value in bringing civil society and business into the fold and working together to prevent bribery and corruption.
The Bribery Prevention Network is a world-leading public-private partnership that brings together business, civil society and government with the shared goal of supporting Australian business to prevent, detect and address bribery and corruption and promote a culture of compliance.
The Attorney‑General’s Department and Australian Federal Police are members of the Bribery Prevention Network.
The Bribery Prevention Network was established in response to Australia’s Phase 4 evaluation under the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention which identified that Australia needed to do more to raise awareness of the foreign bribery risk among small and medium sized enterprises.
The Bribery Prevention Network draws on the resources and expertise of larger companies to assist small and medium sized enterprises in building and maintaining anti‑bribery compliance programs.
One of the most significant features of the Bribery Prevention Network is that it was co-designed, and continues to be co-led, by the private sector and government, through a Steering Committee which comprises representatives from both sectors as well as civil society.
This collaborative approach ensures meaningful engagement with both the private sector and civil society in developing practical resources for Australian businesses.
The Network has produced a broad range of guidance materials and supports a number of measures which are enhancing the capability of Australian companies to address the foreign bribery risk.
I applaud you for the outcomes you have achieved and the ongoing collaboration between different sectors of the Australian community.
Anti‑money laundering and counter-terrorism financing reforms
The Government is also progressing important overdue reforms to Australia’s anti‑money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regime.
Each year, billions of dollars of illicit funds are generated from illegal activities such as drug trafficking, tax evasion, people smuggling, cybercrime and arms trafficking.
Criminal wealth is at the core of most serious crimes, with criminal groups finding new ways to conceal the origins of their wealth and to reinvest in further criminal activity.
These crimes undermine the safety and wellbeing of Australian communities, and exploit and distort legitimate markets and economic activity.
When criminals make money, real people are harmed by the underlying criminal activity, including drug trafficking, terrorism financing, child exploitation and corruption.
These reforms will build Australia’s resilience against criminal exploitation and protect businesses that are at the front line of financial crime prevention.
A key objective of the reforms is to simplify and modernise the regime. The Government is taking this opportunity to address a number of inefficiencies in the regime that limit the effectiveness of Australia’s response to transnational crime.
These reforms will close a significant regulatory gap in Australia by extending the regime to ‘tranche-two entities’ including lawyers, accountants, and real estate professionals. We are one of the few countries in the world that do not regulate high risk services provided by these entities.
These reforms will also streamline the regime, reducing the burden of business interpreting complex provisions, while helping regulated entities to understand the outcomes they are expected to achieve, and supporting regulated entities to implement effective AML/CTF measures within their business.
We also want to modernise the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act to ensure it keeps pace with the increasingly digital, instant nature of our global financial system – closing the gaps that increasingly sophisticated and professional criminal organisations can exploit.
The Government demonstrated our commitment to these reforms by allocating $166.4 million in this year’s Budget to implement these overdue reforms. This includes delivering comprehensive education and guidance to support businesses.
Regional Capability Framework
The harms inflicted by transnational, serious and organised crime, including corruption, extend beyond Australia and impact on communities across the Pacific.
Under the leadership of the President of Kiribati and expressed through the Teieniwa Vision, Pacific Leaders re-committed in 2020 to the importance of good governance. This includes recognising that our collective aspirations for a peaceful, harmonious and prosperous Pacific cannot be realised unless we address corruption and foreign bribery.
Australia is an active member of the Corruption Working Group of the Pacific Islands’ Law Officers Network which works to support Pacific nations to strengthen anti-corruption capabilities with current focus on enhancing asset seizure and confiscation activities as a disincentive to corruption.
Australia is also supporting Pacific countries to strengthen their anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regime. Effective AML/CTF frameworks and institutions can tackle the financial incentives for corruption and bribery, and provide confidence to institutions, such as banks, which are vital to economic development in the region.
The Australian Government will continue to invest in supporting our neighbours in the Pacific to address justice and law enforcement issues.
Closing
As Attorney-General I am charged with strengthening the oversight, accountability and transparency of a number of Australia’s key public institutions and to deliver just outcomes for the Australian community.
This is not something that I, with my department and portfolio agencies, can do alone. Business leaders, non-government organisations and academics play a vital role in collaborating with government on Australia’s integrity agenda.
I would particularly like to acknowledge the private sector and civil society members of the Dialogue today. Your expertise, knowledge and insight continue to be an invaluable resource to Government as we maintain our ambitious reform agenda.
I again thank the UN Global Compact Network Australia and Allens for coordinating this event.
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