The mythology has been that Australians do not like dobbers. Apparently our convict history makes us suspicious of dobbers. The consequence has been that without dobbers, wrong-doers have been able to act with impunity. In particular, corruption has spread among the very people with the duty to act against wrong-doers, and confidence in the law-enforcement system has been sapped. A survey by the Independent Commission Against Corruption published this week paints a depressing picture about it. Of 515 people surveyed, 71 per cent thought whistle-blowers would suffer for reporting corruption. Given the history of treatment of whistle-blowers in Australia, their perception has foundation.
The ICAC report said people did not know who to trust when reporting wrong-doing. Given the history of corruption in the NSW police force, their misgivings have foundation. The head of ICAC, Barry O’Keefe, quite rightly said, “”We have got to create a climate in which reporting wrong-doing is acceptable.”
Fortunately, there is reason to think that this depressing state of affairs can be changed … but little thanks to ICAC. The reason is the superb job being done by the Wood Royal Commission. Justice James Wood has exposed widespread police corruption where previous inquirers, including ICAC (before Mr O’Keefe’s time), failed dismally. The Wood Royal Commission very competently gathered the evidence, forcing public confessions which in turn caused other perpetrators to the inevitable conclusion that it would be better to confess to gain a lighter sentence or immunity than trying to maintain innocence against the facts.
A very important element in this process has been the role of the whistle-blower. Police and others have exposed their colleagues. The lesson of the Wood commission’s work is that the old unwritten rule that Australians do not dob or that dobbing is somehow not the right thing to do should not be part of our national ethos. Justice Wood’s commission shows that exposing wrong-doing … call it dobbing, whistle-blowing or merely reporting … can be effective, is the morally right thing to do and ultimately leads to a better society.
Mr O’Keefe acknowledged that the Wood Royal Commission had played a large part in increased awareness of corruption. It may be that the initial effect of the commission’s findings to date is that people are appalled and there is an dramatic and immediate decrease in their faith in the administration of justice. But the long term effect, we can hope, will be different. After the commission has finished its work, the public may have greater confidence in the police force and greater confidence to take allegations of wrong-doing to the police.
The survey showed that the support for corruption prevention and education to reduce corruption in the public sector. This may sound obvious. However, for a long time tax-dodging was regarded as a benign sport; now it is regarded as morally repugnant. Events in NSW in the past year may be the start of an equally important change in attitude to dobbing and whistle-blowing. Australia will be the better for it and Justice Wood is to be congratulated for starting the process.