The data clearly show that respondents considered “personal interests of officials
overriding other concerns,” “those in power seeking greater control,” and “inefficiency
of the judicial system” to be, respectively, the first, second and third most influential
factors in terms of corruption. “Poor legislation” and “low salaries of the officials in the
public sector” were considered to be much less significant. These findings are not
surprising given that the general literature on corruption has consistently identified
power and greed as primary motivating factors for corruption in affluent democratic
societies such as Australia.