Insights on a new framework for responding to the geographies of corruption: connecting theory and practice
Associate Professor Grant Walton
ANZSOG Academic Fellow | Australian National University
With the establishment of the National Anti-Corruption Commission in 2023, Australia now has anti-corruption commissions operating across every level of government.
Associate Professor Grant Walton’s Insights paper explores how corruption and integrity are shaped by relationships between people, institutions and places.
The paper introduces a relational place framework, focussing on three interconnected geographical dimensions of corruption and integrity: networks, places and scales. Rather than viewing corruption primarily through the lens of individual institutions or national systems, the framework highlights how corruption risks and integrity responses operate across local, national and international settings and through the relationships that connect them.
Drawing on a workshop co-hosted by ANZSOG and the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), the paper examines how these geographical dimensions influence corruption risks and integrity responses in practice
Bringing together policymakers and practitioners from across Australia’s integrity landscape, the workshop explored how integrity agencies currently engage with these issues, the challenges they face, and opportunities for strengthening integrity systems.
The paper highlights challenges including:
sharing information across jurisdictions
sustaining trusted integrity networks
overcoming organisational and legislative barriers to collaboration
responding to technology-driven corruption risks
coordinating action across different levels of government.
It also identifies five priorities for strengthening responses to the geographies of corruption:
improving data consistency and sharing across jurisdictions
strengthening trusted integrity networks
developing a single front door for reporting corruption concerns
strengthening responses to technology-driven integrity risks
strengthening response mechanisms in high-risk environments.
The findings provide a practical and conceptual framework for thinking about integrity systems as networks that operate across places and scales. This can help policymakers and practitioners in considering how collaboration, trust and cross-jurisdictional connections can strengthen responses to corruption.