NCJ Number
221469
Date Published
September 2007
Length
47 pages
Annotation
This report summarizes key findings of the 2005 survey of public attitudes toward Queensland (Australia) public service departments and local government and identifies some changes in these attitudes over time.
Abstract
Most respondents in the 1999, 2002, and 2005 survey groups (approximately 80 percent) held a favorable view of the behavior of public service employees, perceiving that most were honest and generally behaved well. In 2005, older respondents and those with at least some higher education were the most positive in their views of public service employees' behavior. Most of the 2005 respondents felt there had been little change over time in the behavior of public service employees, although older respondents were more likely than younger ones to perceive that public service behavior had changed for the worse. Despite generally favorable perceptions, however, just over 85 percent of respondents in each of the last three surveys believed there would always be some corruption in the public service. In addition, most respondents from each of the last three surveys also held a favorable view of the behavior of local government employees. Seven percent of those surveyed in 2005 reported experiencing improper behavior by a public service employee in the preceding 12 months. Respondents with higher education were approximately 40 percent more likely than respondents with lower levels of education to report having experienced improper behavior by a public service employee. Only about 5 percent of those surveyed in 2005 indicated they had experienced improper behavior by a local government employee in the preceding 12 months. In 2005, approximately 60 percent of respondents who believed they had been treated improperly by a public service employee in the preceding 12 months reported lodging a complaint about the behavior. Across the last three surveys, the most common reason respondents gave for choosing not to complain was the belief that "It would not do any good." 11 tables and 29 figures