The Commission encourages agencies to have an appropriate system to manage misconduct. Managing misconduct is a fundamental element of an agency’s core business: integrity and performance are complementary goals of public administration.
An effective misconduct management system is a system which enables agencies to:
- Prevent misconduct from occurring
- Identify misconduct when it does occur
- Report identified or suspected misconduct
- Manage misconduct
Prevention of misconduct includes:
- appropriate policies, practices and procedures
- organisational and individual awareness of misconduct generally and the nature of misconduct risks particular to the organisation
- recognition of misconduct as a risk in a risk management plan
- education and training
Identification of misconduct includes:
- appropriate policies, practices and procedures
- an established risk management and assessment process
- specified responsibilities for all staff
- checks and balances within practices and procedures to ensure compliance
- education and training.
Reporting of identified or suspected misconduct may be:
- within the organisation
- to the Commission and/or
- to other relevant agencies
Managing identified misconduct requires:
- appropriate policies, practices and procedures
- an effective internal investigation process
- the means to deal with the consequences in both the short and long term