Complaint trends and insights

Over the past five financial years the number of complaints received by the CCC related to the local government sector has generally increased, in line with an overall increase in complaints across all sectors. The upward trend in local government complaints is also consistent with growth in Queensland’s population, and changes to the size of the local government workforce. This matches the experience of other jurisdictions, such as New South Wales.

Trends in the complaints received by the CCC about local governments include:

• Elected officials are overrepresented in complaints. Despite making up less than 2% of people working in local government, almost a quarter of complaints received about this sector related to alleged conduct by mayors, deputy mayors and councillors. This is likely due to conduct being attributed to them due to their high level of influence and greater public profile than other local government employees. However, most complaints were still about alleged conduct by employees.
• Most complaints received by the CCC related to councils in South-East Queensland, which is consistent with these councils serving larger communities and having a higher number of employees.
• However, Rural remote and Indigenous councils are the most vulnerable to corruption (and perceptions of it) relative to population and employee numbers, due to workforce capability challenges, deficiencies with internal controls, financial management issues, and challenges associated with the dynamics of small communities.
• Managing people, processes and public assets are consistently high-risk activities for the sector. Complaints received by the CCC about local governments commonly relate to allegations of corruption in:
  • Human resource management — which includes supervision and employee relations, payroll, recruitment and selection, and compliance with employment obligations.
  • Managing public assets and resources — such as accounts processing, building management, procurement, fleet management and grants administration. 
  • Information control and management — such as the handling and use of confidential information, access to systems and alleged unauthorised or inappropriate release of information. 
• Most complaints related to local governments were received as mandatory notifications from the relevant council. All councils are required to notify the CCC of suspected corrupt conduct. Notifications can also be received from other public sector agencies that may engage with councils, such as the Office of the Independent Assessor (OIA).
• In line with the CCC’s statutory corruption functions, we only investigate or monitor the most serious or systemic cases of corruption. Due to the volume of complaints we receive, and the principles of co-operation, capacity building and devolution, most local government complaints were referred to the council to which the complaint related, to be dealt with. Any matter referred to a council to deal with may be monitored by the CCC to ensure transparency and accountability.   
• Complaints relating to councillor conduct may also be referred to the OIA to deal with, while alleged criminal conduct of any councillor or council employee may also be referred to the Queensland Police Service.