Operation Clara was an investigation by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC). This report highlights the need for reforms to the regulation of lobbying in Victoria and makes recommendations to ensure those regulations are in step with other states and territories.

The Committee’s investigation has uncovered significant, years-long conflicts of interest at McKinsey, resulting from its work for the federal government at the same time it was advising opioid manufacturers, including providing advice on how to influence the regulatory decisions of the U.S. Food and Drug...

This report calls for new rules to extend the prohibition on former cabinet ministers lobbying government, new enforcement powers to ensure ministerial rules are followed, and greater transparency surrounding the outside interests of civil servants.

This report draws attention to a problem that has become a regular subject of ‘public interest disclosures’ to the Ombudsman – nepotism in government schools. It highlights the need for school principals and staff to check and follow integrity obligations, and the need for public...

This study aims at developing a framework to mediate the large negative effects of unethical procurement practices on construction project developments. Findings revealed conflict of interest factors had large negative effects on procurement of construction and infrastructural projects, and ethical procurement practices identified and introduced...

This research paper argues that any proposed policy action to manage conflicts of interest should ideally undergo further testing in the field in which it will be implemented to assess the likely real-world impact. This would improve the design of the policy and monitor the...

This report outlines the findings of an investigation into whether Cairns Regional Council and its councillors comply with relevant legislative and policy requirements and act reasonably in relation to the disclosure and management of councillors’ conflicts of interest.

It is a truism that taxpayers’ money should not be used for personal gain. This should be ingrained into every person employed on the public purse, but as this, and so many other Ombudsman investigations in past years illustrate, it is not always the case...

The focus on knowledge tends to underestimate the social dimensions of the decision making process and conceptualises them as being separate from the production of ‘objective’ knowledge. Because—as social science research has shown—knowledge is inseparable from values, power and vested interests, they can only be...