Corruption Matters - December 2020 | Issue 56

Water management changes a must

The ICAC has made 15 recommendations to the NSW Government to improve the management of the state’s water resources, after the undermining of the governing legislation’s priorities over the past decade by the responsible department’s repeated tendency to adopt an approach that was unduly focused on the interests of the irrigation industry.
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The ICAC’s 2019–20 report card

“This year has not been without its challenges,” writes the Hon Peter Hall QC, Chief Commissioner, in the foreword to the ICAC’s 2019–20 annual report. “The most sober being not only for the Commission but also for the rest of the state, the nation and the world as we have faced the Coronavirus pandemic and dealt with its consequences.” Below you’ll find a snapshot of facts and figures of the year that was.
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Six lessons from the ICAC’s Operation Cygnet

In August 2020, the ICAC released its report into allegations of corrupt conduct in the housing unit of the NSW Department of Family and Community Services (FACS). The investigation, codenamed Operation Cygnet, found that a public official authorised over $1.67 million in payments for repairs to leased properties to his own company. What went wrong? What can we learn?
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Getting the most out of your audit and risk committees

Audit and risk committees (ARCs) play a fundamental role in preventing, detecting and responding to fraud and corruption. The ICAC has released a paper to help public sector ARCs better safeguard their organisations.
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Save the date! National Investigations Symposium 2021

The 13th National Investigations Symposium (NIS) will be held in Sydney on 17 and 18 November 2021 at the Four Seasons Hotel. The conference aims to advance delegates’ knowledge and understanding of approaches for conducting effective investigations and increasing agency complaint-handling skills.
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ICAC workshops and presentations move online

For many years, ICAC education has been provided face-to-face both in Sydney and around the state. But, with the COVID-19 pandemic, a way needed to be found to provide quality corruption prevention education to NSW public officials in a COVID-safe way.
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Complaints management: return on investment

A research team from the University of Newcastle has demonstrated that public sector agencies can expect a positive return on investment (ROI) from effective complaints handling.
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In other news

In November 2020, the ICAC furnished a Special Report to the NSW Parliament dealing with the urgent need for a parliamentary solution to a funding model for the ICAC. It was the second such report expressing the need for an exercise of the Parliament’s role and authority in implementing a new funding model that ensures the ICAC is properly funded by a mechanism that is independent of Executive Government control.
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