Australasian Political Studies Association Conference 2003
Hosted by the School of Government
University of Tasmania

Australian and New Zealand Politics Stream

“How corrupt networks respond to change – quiescence, transition, activity. The case of the Queensland Police Service.”

John Warburton
PhD candidate
Faculty of Economics and Business,
Discipline of Government and International Relations
University of Sydney

Abstract:

One of the significant questions in corruption research is why corruption is so persistent in the face of concerted efforts at its destruction? I would suggest that understanding corrupt networks as social network formations provides part of the answer to this problem. Network structures are extremely flexible and adaptive to their environment. When the environment changes, networks adapt to new conditions, thus ensuring their long term survival, even though individual actors in the network may have been excised.

In this paper I will discuss three identifiable corrupt network states (activity, transition and quiescence) as a response to environmental conditions, with reference to the case of the Queensland Police Service from the 1960s to the 1980s. The network is in the active state when environmental conditions in relation to corrupt conduct are at their most favourable. In the case of the Queensland Police Service in the 1960s, corruption extended from the Commissioner to the beat police officer and there was little in the way of accountability and compliance infrastructure. Consequently corrupt networks were extremely active with massive volumes of corrupt interactions occurring across numerous intersecting corrupt networks. When Ray Whitrod was appointed Commissioner in 1970 he changed the operating environment for the corrupt networks by reducing opportunities for corruption. Corrupt interactions across the networks were reduced significantly and the network entered a state of quiescence.

After a few years of this environmental change, the networks entered a transition phase where interactions across the corrupt networks increased but were not specifically for the purpose of corrupt outcomes. Instead, significant numbers of interactions occurred with the purpose of reshaping the policing environment to one more conducive to corruption. This culminated in the resignation of Commissioner Whitrod and the appointment of corrupt police officer Terry Lewis in 1976. This transition phase continued for another two years until the policing environment became highly conducive to corruption. The result was a massive increase in corrupt interactions and the networks functioning in a highly active state. This conduct became the subject of the Fitzgerald Commission of inquiry.

About the author:

John Warburton is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney, writing a thesis on the development and evolution of corrupt networks. He is an anti corruption professional having worked as a Senior Investigator and Corruption Prevention officer at the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption for 11 years. From 1998 to 2002 he was Visiting Fellow to the Australian National University lecturing on theories of corruption and corruption investigation methods to the Master’s Course “Corruption and Anti Corruption”. This course was offered as a short course to senior public servants from African, South Asian, South East Asian and Pacific countries.