General propositions – for example, that public office is a public trust – can sometimes encapsulate profound truths. It is a measure of the malaise of Western democracies that for many in public life the notion that they hold positions of trust has never penetrated their conception of what their over-riding purpose should be.

Australia has not escaped the malaise. In 2012 we ranked 7th in Transparency International’s global corruption index. We are now 13th. The lack of a federal anti-corruption agency remains a reason why we have never come close to being corruption-free. In the absence of effective countervailing mechanisms, corruption feeds upon itself. In much of the world it has become a monster consuming society as a whole.

In NSW, the Independent Commission Against Corruption unearthed extraordinary cases of wrongdoing against former MP Eddie Obeid. Credit:Photo: Peter Rae

Power tends to corrupt. When power is coupled with greed – some of us eagerly embrace both - corruption will follow. Corruption, and attempts to generate it, corrode the public good.

Until recently, federal politicians have been reluctant to fully acknowledge these truths. They are not entirely to be blamed. Their reluctance springs in part from the fear that an effective anti-corruption authority will expose them to the collateral damage of baseless, politically inspired, allegations of wrongdoing. When this happens, the careers of politicians of integrity may be unjustly ruined and, by deterring good people from entering politics, democracy damaged.