Christine Holgate was ‘thrown under a bus’ by Cartier watch scandal31/01/2021|4min
Christine Holgate was “thrown under the bus” for the Australia Post Cartier watch scandal after a report found there were no violations of law or probity.
Former Australia Post Chief Executive Christine Holgate was stood down after it was revealed she gifted Cartier watches to key executives as an end of year bonus.
The scandal prompted the prime minister to publicly disavow the move in Question Time where he threatened to remove her if she did not stand down.
The report into the scandal, which was released late Friday before the Australia Day public holiday, revealed no wrongdoing on behalf of Ms Holgate apart from being “inconsistent” with Australia Post’s obligations.
Australia is out of the top ten in global anti-corruption rankings why?
By Adam Graycar
Monday February 1, 2021
Adobe
The latest global Corruption Perception Index (CPI) rankings places Australia at 11 out of 180 countries.
This is behind countries like New Zealand, Denmark and Germany and on par with Canada, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong.
For almost 20 years, Australia ranked in the top 10 (least corrupt) countries. In 2012, Australia ranked 7th with a score of 85. By 2018, it had fallen to 13th with a score of 77. In the latest 2020 rankings, it has also scored 77.
Being ranked 11th out of 180 is relatively good. But falling by eight points is not good. It is a wake-up call and raises serious questions about the ethical underpinnings of politics in this country.