Alan Lai of the Independent Commission Against Corruption appeared on a television news broadcast on July 23 and was heard blithely dismissing the recent 15 per cent increase in corruption reports in the construction industry, as merely an increase in the public's willingness to report incidents.
I find his remarks most disturbing.
The ICAC has been with us for a quarter of a century. It has a highly visible profile and is very well known throughout the community. I can think of no possible reason why there should be a sudden surge in the number of reports therefore, unless there was a correlation with the number of incidents.
Personally, I would be far happier to hear the organisation admit to a rise in corruption (if indeed there has been, as would seem to be the case) and respond to the situation by taking the opportunity to further exhort the community to an increased level of vigilance.
Generally recognised as an effective body, it would be tragic for the ICAC to undermine its own credibility by trying to gloss over such an increase with glib spin doctoring. For this reason, I feel it is incumbent upon the ICAC to justify its position on the increase.
GRAEME C. ALFORD