Date published
10 November 2026
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Last modified
10 November 2026
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Last reviewed
10 November 2026
In 2025, the CCC conducted research to measure perceptions of corruption in Queensland. This is a snapshot of key findings from a survey of public service department employees, including employees of hospital and health services.
- Nine in ten (90%) public sector employees agreed corruption happens in Queensland. Public sector employees believe corruption to be more of a problem in local government (63% agree), compared to state government (57%) and the QPS (46%).
- While almost half of public sector employees considered their workplace to be vulnerable to corruption (48%), only three in ten (31%) agreed corruption is a problem in their workplace.
- At least half of public sector employees were ‘fairly’ concerned about each of the corruption behaviours assessed in the survey, with the levels of concern attributed to each behaviour relatively consistent. A behaviour where employees were more likely to be ‘very’ concerned is corruption in police response to domestic and family violence (46% ‘very’ concerned).
- All corruption behaviours assessed by public sector employees in this survey were deemed to pose some risk, with more than half attributing each behaviour as ‘definitely’ or ‘probably’ a risk to their workplace. The behaviours considered the highest risk included noncompliance with policies and procedures, mishandling of confidential information and bullying and harassment, with around half considering these ‘definitely’ a risk.
- Close to three in four (72%) public sector employees agreed they would report corruption, while 7% indicated they would not report corruption.
- Close to half (45%) of public sector employees agreed they would feel comfortable lodging a complaint with their workplace if they had information about corruption, whilst one in three (36%) disagreed.
- Seven in ten would know if they have witnessed corruption (69%) and three in four would report it (72%). However, half of respondents (52%) expected they would experience personal repercussions if they reported corruption, and there was also a strong preference for anonymity in reporting.
- There was some scepticism around the outcomes of reporting corruption; one in three agreed meaningful action would be taken (33%), but similar proportions disagreed (36%).
- More than four in ten (44%) public sector employees indicated they would prefer not to report corruption to someone within their workplace. However, when looking at previous and intended reporting behaviour, internal channels (supervisor/manager and/or HR team/ethical standards unit) were the most common channels for reporting corruption, consistent across both those who have reported corruption and the expected reporting avenues for those who have not.
- One in four (23%) public sector employees had either witnessed corruption, or thought they did, but did not report it. The dominant reason for not doing so was fear of repercussion (60%).
- A belief no action would be taken by senior management was another common barrier (54%).
- 2% of public sector employees indicated not having witnessed corruption, and not having any intention to report it if they did so. Among this cohort, the key barriers to reporting included a fear of impact to career (64%) and/or impact to relationship with colleagues (48%), an expectation of inaction (50%) and the need for proof (48%).
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Topics
CCC
Corruption
Public sector
