In the past, the prospect of a visit to Wollongong by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) was enough to send a shiver down our collective spines.
Not so at this week's ICAC visit, part of a state-wide regional tour to raise understanding of corruption risks, provide practical corruption prevention information and give advice on how to report suspected corrupt conduct.
It was one of Wollongong's darkest days when on 5 March 2008 NSW Governor Mary Bashir sacked Wollongong Council for "systemic corruption" after a lengthy ICAC investigation.
Our Council today looks very different, and as part of the ICAC educational tour this week, council staff and elected councillors were given briefings on how to avoid falling foul of the law during a series of workshops. Our councillors received their briefing in person and online on Wednesday night.
Today, Thursday, August 21, it was the public's turn to hear from ICAC's Chief Commissioner, who was joined at the Novotel North Wollongong by leaders of the state's other integrity agencies for a panel discussion and brief Q and A session.
Former NSW Attorney General John Hatzistergos, now ICAC Commissioner, opened the session with his interpretation of what constitutes "serious and systemic corruption".
"It involves a range of things from the misuse of confidential information, officials acting dishonestly and a breach of public trust through a misuse of power or resources," the Commissioner said.
He said "serious" related to the scale and context of the behaviour and the amount of time of the offending.
"For systemic, we are looking at corrupt conduct that has a pattern and where there are often multiple players and occurring over a longer period."
The majority of public complaints about bad behaviour in local government are lodged with the Office of the NSW Ombudsman. Acting Ombudsman Chris Clayton said the main role of his office (celebrating its 50th year in 2025) was "to look at whether agencies are acting fairly for the people of NSW".
"We like to offer the opportunity to help resolve complaints but also step in if the parties aren't able to resolve a problem," Mr Clayton said.
He said the relatively new Public Information Disclosure Act (2023) offered extra protection for whistleblowers from within government agencies. This resulted in 1,300 complaints being recorded in the first nine months of the act coming into law. While about half of the matters had been dealt with, it was found there were 81 instances of wrongdoing at a local level statewide.
"Sometimes public officials don't feel comfortable or safe making complaints and reporting about wrongdoing in their organisation," Mr Clayton said. "It's really important when public officials make a disclosure, they feel protected from detrimental action occurring as a result.
"The PID Act embodies a really important concept of a 'speak up' culture with agencies. It's important to have a culture within agencies that if staff see something that's not right, they have the confidence to speak up."
The Acting Ombudsman said in November 2024 the NSW Government launched a new whistleblower support function to provide independent support to public officials who have reported or are considering reporting serious wrongdoing.
Both ICAC and the Ombudsman do accept complaints made anonymously but the ICAC boss said if people do make complaints anonymously it might limit the ability for investigators to follow up more thoroughly.
The Wollongong forum also heard about complaints over alleged police misconduct and how these are overseen by the NSW Law Enforcement Conduct Commission. The Illawarra Flame will provide an update tomorrow, with a special emphasis on the inconsistent use of police body-worn cameras.