Australia and Norway were once tied in global anti-corruption rankings. Now, we're heading in opposite directions

In a worrying sign, Australia has plummeted in Transparency International’s latest Corruption Perceptions Index^[1] – the world’s most widely cited ranking of how clean or corrupt every country’s public sector is believed to be.

In the 2021 index released today^[2], Australia has repeated its largest-ever annual drop – falling four points on the 100-point scale, from 77 to 73. Zero is considered highly corrupt, while a score of 100 is very clean.

Overall, Australia has dropped 12 points on the index since 2012, more than any OECD country apart from Hungary, which also fell 12 points. Australia’s rate of decline is also similar or steeper than other countries with far worse issues, including Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria and Venezuela.

Australia was ranked seventh in the world in 2012, level with Norway. This year, Australia has fallen to 18th out of 180 countries. In contrast, Norway’s global standing has improved, climbing from seventh to fourth on the index.

It’s a clear sign Australia has missed a huge chance to correct our failing anti-corruption reputation. And this will likely continue to fall unless integrity policies are turned around at this year’s federal election.

Author provided What the index shows The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is compiled annually by Transparency International using the most credible, independent, long-running corruption measures in the world. Sources^[3] include the Economist Intelligence Unit, Freedom House, the World Justice Project and the World Bank. These surveys focus on levels of public sector corruption, as well as the strength of mechanisms for preventing and controlling corruption. This makes the index not simply a list of which countries are more or less corrupt, but also an evaluation of their current anti-corruption efforts. The CPI is recognised as a key indicator of Australia’s integrity performance – not only by reform advocates, but by the federal government itself. Read more: As a NSW premier falls and SA guts its anti-corruption commission, what are the lessons for integrity bodies in Australia?^[4] In September 2018, then-Attorney-General Christian Porter famously tried to defend the nation’s anti-corruption record by telling parliament^[5] the CPI had placed Australia “consistently in the top 20 countries on Earth for low corruption”. It took Centre Alliance MP Rebekha Sharkie to point out^[6] Australia used to be not only in the top 20, but the top ten. Instead of maintaining its high score, like Norway, Australia has gone in the other direction – and it now risks falling out of the top 20 altogether.