Date published
10 November 2026
|
Last modified
10 November 2026
|
Last reviewed
10 November 2026
In 2025, the CCC conducted research to measure perceptions of corruption in Queensland across the public sector, local government, Queensland Police Service (QPS), and community. This is a snapshot of key findings from a survey of 973 council employees.
- Almost nine in ten (89%) council employees agreed or strongly agreed that ‘corruption happens in Queensland.’ However, only 66% considered it a problem. Corruption was thought to be slightly more of a problem in state government (61%), followed by local government (59%), with a lower proportion agreeing corruption was a problem in the QPS (41%).
- At least half of council employees were at least ‘fairly’ concerned about each of the behaviours assessed in the survey, with corruption committed by elected officials (80%) and corruption in recruitment for senior government executive positions (78%) attracting the highest proportion of ‘very’ or ‘fairly concerned’ responses.
- Council employees identified non-compliance with policies and procedures (86%) and mishandling and misuse of confidential information (80%) as behaviours with the highest corruption risk in their workplace.
- Bullying and harassment, conflicts of interest, political influence, improper lobbying, and biased or unethical procurement decisions were all identified as a workplace risk by at least seven in ten employees, with around four in ten identifying them as ‘definitely’ a risk.
- Queensland local council workplaces are perceived to be moderately vulnerable to corruption. Just over half (56%) considered their workplace to be vulnerable to corruption, and 32% agreed corruption was a problem in their workplace.
- 55% of council employees had either witnessed, or thought they had witnessed, corruption in the past 5 years. Of these, almost half (48%) did not report it, with reporting significantly lower among those in non-managerial roles.
- 68% indicated they would recognise corrupt behaviour and there was a strong intention to report it (73%).
- Almost half (46%) who said they would report it expected they would experience personal repercussions and there was some preference for anonymity in reporting.
- 70% of council employees felt ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ comfortable lodging a complaint with the CCC.
- Sentiment was more muted with regards to reporting corruption to the employee’s own workplace: 50% agreed they would feel comfortable lodging a complaint with their workplace, with 44% indicating they felt confident their workplace would have the resources to adequately investigate, and 42% felt confident the report would be handled in a fair and unbiased way.
- Although there was a strong preference for independent reporting, internal channels were more likely to be used than the CCC. Of those who reported corruption in the past 5 years, the channels most used were supervisor/manager (57%) or HR/ethical standards unit (34%).
- Council employees were sceptical as to whether meaningful action would be taken if they reported corruption, with four in ten believing this would not be the case (40%).
To provide feedback on this page's content, please contact us.
Topics
CCC
Corruption
Local government
