Quality of governance in Australian unions

Abstract

In late 2015, The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption presented its final report to the Australian Parliament. This six-volume report, plus a two volume interim report uncovered various forms of corruption by unions and employers in many sectors of society. This was the fourth such commission in recent decades, and the findings and recommendations of each do not differ significantly. Similarly, this most recent inquiry received little cooperation from the union movement. Thus the recommendations made in effect attempt to impose governance controls on corruption from outside the unions, rather than encouraging controls generated from within. Codes of conduct and codes of ethics are recognised as the expression of the behavioural standards and the expected moral values of individuals and organisations. Ethical codes in particular underpin quality of governance, that is to say “quality means governance that is democratic, accountable and transparent, lawful, incorruptible and impartial, effective and efficient, professional and civil, and robust” (Huberts 2012). Using the quality of governance framework, this paper proposes to analyse the codes of ethics/codes of conduct for two organisations that featured in the recent royal commission. The paper asks how these inputs of governance are interpreted and applied in the processes of governance for the system of industrial relations? This paper represents the early stages of a broader research project into the nature of union corruption in Australia from a social sciences perspective.