BUS 300 - Business Ethics and Sustainability: Corruption Analysis

This report provides an overview of corruption in Australia, focusing on various forms such as electoral fraud, bribery, and slush funds. It delves into the specifics of each type, highlighting their impact on the economy and society. Furthermore, the report outlines strategies that the Australian government can implement to effectively minimize corruption, including strengthening law enforcement, promoting transparency, enhancing auditing processes, and implementing stricter regulations for elections and financial transactions. The analysis emphasizes the importance of these measures in fostering economic growth, maintaining equality, and ensuring ethical governance within the country. Desklib offers a wealth of similar reports and study resources for students.

Running head: Business Ethics and Sustainability
Business Ethics and Sustainability

Business Ethics and Sustainability
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Types of corruption..........................................................................................................................1
Strategies on which the government should give more emphasis to reduce the rate of corruption 3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................4
References........................................................................................................................................5
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Introduction
Corruption is considered as a misuse of power and it is an illegal behavior of a person to
achieve personal profits. In the recent situation, it has been seen that corruption is a social evil
which is present in the society. Corruption is enhancing day by day and giving an adverse effect
on the economy of the country. Corruption is a process in which one person offers something to
the other person and in return, the people complete the task which is assigned by the first person.
In the eye of law it is not ethical and for this punishment can also be given to a person who is
indulged in such activities (Graycar, 2015).
In this paper, types of corruption in the home country which is Australia will be
elaborated. The emphasis will also be given on the strategies that should be taken into
consideration by the government in a proper manner.
Types of corruption
Corruption can take place in any form. There are various types of corruption in Australia.
The corruptions are related to Electoral fraud, slush fund and bribery.
Electoral fraud
Electoral fraud comes into the category of corruption in Australia. In this, it has been
seen that manipulation is done at the time of elections. When elections take place fraud is done in
context to the overall votes. The corruption is done in context to the increase in the overall votes
of an individual by giving negative impact on the overall votes of the other party. It has been
analyzed that maximum fraud is done in the votes at the time of elections (Smith, 2016).
It has been seen that there are many political parties who are involved in these types of
frauds and sometimes they win by doing fraudulent activities at the time of elections. The
department of electoral commission investigated that there are more than 17,000 people who are
questioned about the increase in the number of votes at the time of election (Perry, 2017).
By giving emphasis on the report given by a charitable trust it has been analyzed that
there are more than 17 Mill registrations done of the people who are not alive and the votes are
not valid. There are many people who are died and many individuals are registered in more than
one state. There are people who are giving votes with the name of the people who are died and
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who are non-citizen registration (Savery, 2015). Voting is done by the individuals by
considering the fraudulent activities which are not ethical in the eyes of law. The name of the
people is used who are died or who have registered themselves in the many states. This is the one
of the type of corruption which takes place in Australia and it has given effect on the equality.
Just because of the fraud activities there is no quality and justice maintained. It is essential to
have control over the fraud activities related to Electoral fraud so that deserving party can be
selected to have control over the process (Gottschalk and Stanislas, 2017).
Bribery
Bribery is an act of offering someone money or any valuable asset and in return, the
second person has to do the activity which is given in exchange for the money. The person offers
a bribe to the second person so that they can complete the activity according to them. Bribery is
an unethical act and it gives an adverse effect on the overall economy of the country (Latimer,
2017). There are also various Australian Jurisdictions who are taking into consideration bribery
in public office so that the behavior of a person who is conducting the activities in the public
office can be influenced. If the focus is given on the rank of the country, then Australia is on
13th rank. The person who is conducting unethical act has to face punishment given by the law
(Banuri and Eckel, 2015).
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(Source: Transparency, 2017).
It has been analyzed that the individual who is involved in the activity of bribery are
penalized for more than 10 years and they have to pay AUD 1.1, MIL for the act done by them.
If the business is doing these activities or involved in the unethical act then for them penalty is
AUD 17 MIL (Islam, 2014).
It has been seen that Australia is a federation consist of six states and two self-governing
territories. The constitution of Australia considers those areas in which the commonwealth has to
legislate the power and leaves the residue to the states (Fehon, 2017).
Slush Fund
Slush fund is also known as black money and it has been analyzed that it is kind of fund
which is controlled by the acts which are not ethical in the eye of law. It was considered in the
areas of politics. These kinds of funds are not kept in open they are hidden in a secret place
which is difficult to be searched. It has been seen that top management gives more focus and do
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not open information related to the fund. There are also secret reserves which are made so that
people cannot search the fund easily. For instance: it can be seen that slush funds are made in the
school of Australia. This gives adverse impact on the overall activities of the country and also
affects the growth rate.
Strategies on which the government should give more emphasis to
reduce the rate of corruption
It is important to consider the strategies by the government so that corruption can be
reduced. If corruption is reduced it can be seen that growth of the economy can take place in an
effective manner. By implementation of the policies and regulations of the government, it can be
easy to reduce the rate of corruption. If the emphasis is given on bribery it can be seen that there
are various strategies that should be implemented. To reduce the rate of bribery it has been seen
that system related to impunity should be considered so that punishment can be given to each
person without any exemption. It is important to consider an important law enforcement system
so that equality can be maintained and also the person can be given punishment for the act done
(Wilson and Pender, 2017).
It is important to maintain proper transparency of the information so that public can also
share their views and it can help to reduce the rate of corruption. Bribery rate can be reduced if
proper auditing is done. It is important for the government to set proper auditing firms so that
bribery can be reduced in a proper manner (Iyer and Samociuk, 2016).
If the emphasis is given on the Electoral it is essential for the government to take into
consideration the process in which the individual who is giving a vote for the first time is not
eligible to give a vote for the next time. It will reduce the rate of fraud votes and also the vote of
people who are not alive is not considered. The rules should be implemented by the government
that voting will be conducted for one day and for a specified time period. Also, it is important
that government should take some id proof of the candidate who is giving vote so that they
cannot give vote again and again. When fake votes are given it is seen that equality is not
maintained. So, to enhance the equality it is important to have proper control so that one person
can give one vote. It will maintain the equality and the party who deserve to win will only win.
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To manage the corruption in context to the slush fund it is essential for the government to
consider proper procedures and techniques which can keep the track of every dollar used and it
should also be cross-checked so that black money cannot take place.
Conclusion
By focusing on the report, it is concluded that there are many ways through which
corruption can be managed and reduced. Also, there are many types of corruption which take
place in Australia. In this report, the first phase is related to the type of bribery in which
discussion is made on bribery, Electoral fraud, and slush fund. It is essential to minimize
corruption in the country so that economic growth can be maintained and also equality can take
place. So, in the last phase, the recommendations are made that should be considered by the
government so that corruption can be reduced. In recommendations, the points which are
discussed are related to the auditing firms and track of dollars. If these recommendations are
considered than it can be easy for the country to maintain the economy in a proper manner.
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References
Banuri, S. and Eckel, C., 2015. Cracking down on bribery. Social Choice and Welfare, 45(3),
pp.579-600.
Fehon, M., 2017. Implications of the proposed amendments to Australia's foreign bribery
laws. Governance Directions, 69(6), p.334.
Gottschalk, P. and Stanislas, P. eds., 2017. Public Corruption: Regional and National
Perspectives on Procurement Fraud. CRC Press.
Graycar, A., 2015. Corruption: Classification and analysis. Policy and Society, 34(2), pp.87-96.
Graycar, A., 2017. Corruption. In The Palgrave Handbook of Australian and New Zealand
Criminology, Crime and Justice(pp. 251-267). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Islam, M.A., 2014. Bribery and corruption in Australian local councils. Public Money &
Management, 34(6), pp.441-446.
Iyer, N. and Samociuk, M., 2016. Fraud and corruption: Prevention and detection. Routledge.
Latimer, P., 2017. Anti-bribery laws–compliance issues in Australia. Journal of Financial
Crime, 24(1), pp.4-16.
Perry, P.J., 2017. Political Corruption in Australia: A Very Wicked Place?. Routledge.
Savery, J., 2015. Voting rights and intellectual disability in Australia: an illegal and unjustified
denial of rights. Sydney L. Rev., 37, p.287.
Smith, R., 2016. Confidence in paper-based and electronic voting channels: evidence from
Australia. Australian Journal of Political Science, 51(1), pp.68-85.
Transparency, 2017.Corruption perception index. .[Online]Transparency international. Available
at https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/corruption_perceptions_index_2016 , [Accessed
on 20 May].
Wilson, J. and Pender, K., 2017. A new era?: Whistleblower protections in Australia. Ethos:
Official Publication of the Law Society of the Australian Capital Territory, (243), p.25.
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